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Saturday, April 14, 2012

Camera Critter: Bai Yun, San Diego Zoo

Bai Yun ("White Cloud") is not a panda cub, and hasn't been a cub for many years. Born in China in 1991, she has been at the San Diego Zoo since 1996. She has given birth to 5 cubs since 1999: Hua Mei (f), Mei Sheng (m), Su Lin (f), Zhen Zhen (m), and Yun Zi (m). Nevertheless, we saw her behaving like a frisky young cub when we visited the zoo last month.
When we first saw Bai Yun in 2006, her second daughter, Su Lin, was about six months old. Su Lin spent most of her time in a tree, sleeping, while Bai Yun spent most of her time sleeping on top of their outdoor den. All we could see of Bai at that time was her generous ("white cloud") backside. Su Lin's papa, Gao Gao, provided the only active entertainment that day.
I was surprised, therefore, to find her extremely playful this time. The zoo's play-by-play announcer said he had never seen her so lively before.
My intrepid photographer was fortunate enough to get many shots of Bai playing with a large disc in her pond. It turned out she was trying to get it out of her pond, and, when she succeeded, she didn't stop to rest. Instead, she began to climb her tree, offering the crowd some more photo opportunities! It was wonderful.






© Richard Schear, March, 2012
Posted for Misty Dawn's
Camera Critters meme.
Thanks, Misty!

6 comments:

Sallie (FullTime-Life.com said...

We saw her in 2004! The Pandas were my favorite animal at the Zoo except maybe the giraffe who was within days of giving birth. (I wanted to stay there until she did, but....) I have a picture of Bai Yun by her pond eating -- one of my favorite ever shots.

Anonymous said...

What delightful shots of the panda!

Powell River Books said...

Now the real thing. They are amazing animals. I can see why you like them so much. - Margy

eileeninmd said...

The pandas are one of my favorite zoo animals. Great shots. Have a great weekend!

Cezar and Léia said...

Pandas must be some of the most charming critters in the world!
God bless you!
Cezar

Pia said...

Pandas are special and wonderful animals. Nice photos, thanks for sharing!