Loving caregivers dote on pandas

2024-12-15 12:42 Last Updated At：12:42

An An and Ke Ke, recently gifted to Hong Kong by the central government, met members of the public for the first time on December 8.

Under the dedicated care provided at Ocean Park, the two lively giant pandas are adjusting well to their new environment, and have been eating and sleeping well.

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Vital expertise: Ocean Park Zoological Operations Assistant Curator Elke Wu says experts from the China Conservation & Research Centre for the Giant Panda have given the care team invaluable assistance. Source from news.gov.hk

Meal preparation: The giant pandas’ diet includes bamboo, bamboo shoots, vegetables, high-fibre cookies and freshly steamed "wo wo tou". Source from news.gov.hk

Mental stimulation: “Environmental enrichment” items such as this ball allow the pandas to simulate the process of foraging for food in a captive environment. Source from news.gov.hk

Close monitoring: Ocean Park Zoological Operations Assistant Curator Mandy Tang says she will observe any behavioural changes in Ke Ke during the breeding season. Source from news.gov.hk

Desensitisation process: Caregivers gently touch An An’s arm with a syringe to familiarise him with the blood-drawing process. Source from news.gov.hk

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Vital expertise: Ocean Park Zoological Operations Assistant Curator Elke Wu says experts from the China Conservation & Research Centre for the Giant Panda have given the care team invaluable assistance. Source from news.gov.hk

Meal preparation: The giant pandas’ diet includes bamboo, bamboo shoots, vegetables, high-fibre cookies and freshly steamed "wo wo tou". Source from news.gov.hk

Mental stimulation: “Environmental enrichment” items such as this ball allow the pandas to simulate the process of foraging for food in a captive environment. Source from news.gov.hk

Close monitoring: Ocean Park Zoological Operations Assistant Curator Mandy Tang says she will observe any behavioural changes in Ke Ke during the breeding season. Source from news.gov.hk

Desensitisation process: Caregivers gently touch An An’s arm with a syringe to familiarise him with the blood-drawing process. Source from news.gov.hk

The park is providing specialist training for the pandas, to make it easier for caregivers to perform dental and blood pressure checks, draw blood samples, and even undertake ultrasound examinations, without the need for anaesthesia.

Ocean Park Zoological Operations Assistant Curator Mandy Tang explained that adult giant pandas are large and powerful, and that their bite force is very strong. This means health checks must be performed with care inside their dedicated training cages.

"By just calling [a panda's] name, if he is willing to come close and allow you to hand-feed him, this is already a basic part of his caregiving training."

An An has already learned to walk from the exhibition area to his training cage on hearing Mandy's call. On arriving in the cage, he extends his hand and makes a fist.

The caregivers have carried out what they call “desensitisation” training with An An. This allows them to use a trimmer on his fur, apply disinfectant to his skin, and gently apply a syringe to his arm, without him becoming frightened. As a reward for accepting their care without fuss, he is given apple slices.

"Giant pandas are very smart,” Mandy stressed. “Step by step, we teach him to touch a target stick with his nose. With the help of the target stick, we can lead him from one place to another, and he can even lie down for us to measure his body temperature.”.

Nutritious diet

Giant pandas eat four meals a day. Their staple food is bamboo from Sichuan and Guangzhou.

The caregivers store the bamboo in a food cabinet that is temperature-controlled and has a sprinkler system to keep the plants fresh.

"The supply and taste of bamboo is greatly affected by weather and environmental factors such as water and soil,” Mandy said. “We provide each giant panda with five to six different types of bamboo daily."

Their diet also includes bamboo shoots, fruit, vegetables, and high-fibre cookies. Like humans, individual pandas have different preferences. While An An loves apples and carrots, "wo wo tou" is Ke Ke's favourite.

"Wo wo tou is freshly made by us from rice flour, soybean flour, and cornmeal, mixed with eggs,” Mandy explained. “The ingredients are kneaded like bread dough, and then steamed."

Giant pandas in the wild spend a lot of time looking for food. Accordingly, Ocean Park has enriched the pandas' environment with items they can play with and which allow them to “forage” even in a captive environment where there is sufficient food.

"We want them to use their intelligence, and their sense of taste, smell, and sight, to forage, which is good for their mental health."

Both five years old – roughly equivalent to 15 years old for a human – An An and Ke Ke have entered what is considered to be adulthood for giant pandas. Mandy highlighted that spring is the breeding season for the species, and said the park will closely monitor any behavioural changes.

"For instance, we will observe whether Ke Ke rubs her tail on the ground. Giant pandas have glandular secretions in their tails, leaving behind a unique scent, which is an important sign of entering their mating season."

Future attractions

The first panda twin cubs born in Hong Kong are anticipated to be another huge attraction at Ocean Park.

Currently about four months old, the twins' canine teeth are now becoming visible.

Ocean Park Zoological Operations Assistant Curator Elke Wu said pandas feel itchy in their mouths and often want to chew on things at the teething stage.

"When they reach seven to eight months old, they will begin to pick up leftover bamboo leaves or other solid food from their mother and learn to chew. We will then let them try softer foods like bamboo shoot granules."

She added that with the twins' forelimbs growing strong, they can now support themselves to crawl forward, meaning that they will probably soon learn to stand up and walk.

Expert guidance

Elke has been working at Ocean Park for 17 years and has cared for older giant pandas such as the late An An and Jia Jia, as well as Le Le, Ying Ying – the twins' mother – and now her precious offspring.

She said that she was honoured to have experts from the China Conservation & Research Centre for the Giant Panda assisting the Ocean Park team with delivery and rearing, and stressed that their experience in panda care has been vital.

"From the beginning, we all followed the teachings of the experts. In the first few days after Ying Ying's labour, we were reluctant to leave because the experience was so valuable. From choosing the delivery room and the facilities in the nursery to the amount of milk fed to the cubs, we heavily relied on the experts' invaluable experience."

She added with a smile that while most mother pandas like to eat honey, Ying Ying is not a big fan. With the help of the experts, however, the team discovered that she is fond of electrolyte water, which turned out to be useful in getting her to eat and aided in her postpartum care.

Typhoon Kalmaegi leaves 114 dead, 127 missing in Philippines, many in province recovering from quake

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials said Thursday the death toll from widespread flooding and devastation caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi in the country’s central region has risen to at least 114 with 127 people reported missing, many of them in a hard-hit province still recovering from a deadly earthquake.

Most of the deaths were reported in the central province of Cebu, which was pummeled by Kalmaegi on Tuesday, setting off flash floods and causing a river and other waterways to overflow, said Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV, deputy administrator of the Office of Civil Defense.

Kalmaegi moved away from western Palawan province into the South China Sea before noon Wednesday and was barreling toward Vietnam, according to forecasters.

Among the dead were six people who were killed when a Philippine air force helicopter crashed in the southern province of Agusan del Sur on Tuesday. The crew was on its way to provide humanitarian help to provinces battered by Kalmaegi, the military said. It did not give the cause of the crash.

Provincial officials said Kalmaegi set off flash floods and caused a river and other waterways to swell. The resulting flooding engulfed residential communities, forcing residents to climb on their roofs, where they desperately pleaded to be rescued as the floodwaters rose, officials said.

At least 71 people died in Cebu, mostly due to drownings, 65 others were reported missing and 69 injured, the Office of Civil Defense said.

It added that 62 others were reported missing in the central province of Negros Occidental, which is located near Cebu.

“We did everything we can for the typhoon but, you know, there are really some unexpected things like flash floods,” Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro told The Associated Press by telephone.

Caloy Ramirez, a volunteer rescuer, said the massive flooding set off by the typhoon turned an upscale riverside residential community in Cebu city on Tuesday into an unrecognizable scene of tumbled SUVs and houses in disarray.

Residents said floodwater engulfed the first floors of their houses in just a few minutes, sending them scrambling to upper floors or roofs in panic.

“We always expect the worst and what I saw yesterday was the worst,” Ramirez told The AP. He described how the faces of desperate residents would light up when they realized they were being rescued.

The problems may have been made worse by years of quarrying that caused clogging of nearby rivers, which overflowed, and substandard flood control projects in Cebu province, Baricuatro said.

A corruption scandal involving substandard or non-existent flood control projects across the Philippines has sparked public outrage and street protests in recent months.

Cebu, a bustling province of more than 2.4 million people, declared a state of calamity to allow authorities to disburse emergency funds more rapidly.

Cebu was still recovering from a 6.9 magnitude earthquake on Sept. 30 that left at least 79 people dead and displaced thousands when houses collapsed or were severely damaged.

Thousands of northern Cebu residents who were displaced by the earthquake were moved to sturdier evacuation shelters from flimsy tents before the typhoon struck, Baricuatro said. Northern towns devastated by the earthquake were mostly not hit by floods generated by Kalmaegi, she added.

Before Kalmaegi’s landfall, officials said more than 387,000 people had evacuated to safer ground in eastern and central Philippine provinces.

Ferries and fishing boats were prohibited from venturing out to increasingly rough seas, stranding more than 3,500 passengers and cargo truck drivers in nearly 100 seaports, the coast guard said. At least 186 domestic flights were canceled.

The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year. The country also is often hit by earthquakes and has more than a dozen active volcanoes, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.

Central Vietnam, still reeling from days of record rain that triggered flash floods and landslides, was bracing for more pounding rain as Kalmaegi nears.

Fishing boats returned to shore while local authorities readied evacuation plans, secured shelters and stockpiled food, state media reported.

Associated Press journalists Aniruddha Ghosal in Hanoi, Vietnam, and Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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Loving caregivers dote on pandas

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