Edinburgh Zoo Pandamonium to hit Edinburgh! #1

This may have been mentioned before but it says: 'The breeding pair were officially given to the UK as "a gift from China" in January'. Does this mean that the arrangement is different to the loans in place in other countries?
 
Was at Edinburgh today (sampling their Primatology course) and plenty of the animals were out.

The 'Drill baby is as cute as any baby I've seen at a zoo for a while. It was a real effort to drag myself away.

Worryingly though the Tiger House was cordoned off today and they mentioned in the updates (some people had been on a course before back in April) that the female was under the weather and that they were hoping she'd be ok. She has been introduced to the male and they said it was going "okay".

I've got shed loads of notes and photos from today that I'll get round too soon, they just jump out as the two important/highlighty bits.
 
I was just wondering if anyone has any further news on the pandas? I have looked at the website and they have a profile page under their list of animals, but obviously the animals aren't there yet.

Does anyone know when they will be arriving and are there any new pictures of how their enclosure is coming on?
 
I would have expected the pandas at the Edinburgh Zoo to have generated a little more excitement than they have. This thread has only 189 responses and 12,000 views.:)

I hope that the pandas bring the UK some joy as the pandas at San Diego and elsewhere do on this side of the Atlantic.
 
Their arrival must be getting close now, with the media starting to go into overdrive, having appeared on the country's main news bulletin and a major spread in the top selling newspaper too.
 
DavidBrown said:
I would have expected the pandas at the Edinburgh Zoo to have generated a little more excitement than they have. This thread has only 189 responses and 12,000 views.:)

I hope that the pandas bring the UK some joy as the pandas at San Diego and elsewhere do on this side of the Atlantic.
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They certainly have charisma and generate great public interest. When Dublin exhibited a pair for 3 months in the 80s, they had 300,000 visitors in that period when the yearly figures then were not much above 500,000. The newspapers and tv/radio gave heavy coverage and helped whip up a frenzy of panda mania and the Zoo suddenly became trendy.
 
DavidBrown said:
I would have expected the pandas at the Edinburgh Zoo to have generated a little more excitement than they have. This thread has only 189 responses and 12,000 views.:)

I hope that the pandas bring the UK some joy as the pandas at San Diego and elsewhere do on this side of the Atlantic.
Click to expand...

They certinaly do! Us British have had an obsession with Panda's. Between 1939-1994, 11 Giant Panda's have been On display at London zoo, and this almost certinaly made it the most popular zoo in the nation. They have been so popular infact, that when Chi-Chi (naughty little girl in chinese) died (1972) and Britain opened up trade with China, the British people were begging for the Government too ask China for another panda. In 1974, a pair of Giant Panda arrived at London Zoo- Chia-Chia + Ching-Ching. Ching-Ching died in 1985, due too severe health problems (this research taught us a lot about what we know about Giant Panda today). While in the meantime, Chia-Chia fathered a cub in madrid, Chu-lin, by A.I. Chia-Chia was moved to mexico city in 1988 and fatherd the cub Xing-Xing. He dies in mexico in 1991. Then, in 1991, Ming-Ming came on a short term loan from China. She was joined by bao-bao from zoo Berlin. The plan was too breed them + produce a cub that would be london zoo's own. However, it did not work out, and both returned to china + berlin respectivly. Ming-Ming died this year in China, while Bao-Bao is still in Berlin. So in Short, I doubt they will go unnoticed when they arrive ;)
 
The enclosure area is now not just fenced off, but big solid black metal fence/gated off. I got a photo today, but haven't had a chance to upload it yet.
 
kiang said:
Pandamonium to hit Edinburgh zoo, but looking like, just not this year.

Pandas ?won?t be seen this year? - Edinburgh, East & Fife - Scotsman.com
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The article mentions that the zoo is spending 70,000 pounds (don't know how to insert the cool "pound" symbol) a year to import bamboo from a farm in the Netherlands. If the pandas are going to be in Scotland for an extended period of time is there any thought of the zoo investing in the infrastructure to grow their own bamboo, or would that be too expensive?

On a related subject, where do they get the eucalyptus for their koalas?
 
DavidBrown said:
The article mentions that the zoo is spending 70,000 pounds (don't know how to insert the cool "pound" symbol) a year to import bamboo from a farm in the Netherlands. If the pandas are going to be in Scotland for an extended period of time is there any thought of the zoo investing in the infrastructure to grow their own bamboo, or would that be too expensive?

On a related subject, where do they get the eucalyptus for their koalas?
Click to expand...

I believe the zoo is planning on growing some of its own bamboo but does not have the space for a guaranteed constant supply of it.
 
The female pandas webcam will be exclusively seen on the members portal of the website and i think the male one will be made to the general public. The email i received today made it sound like the members will get to see the pandas webcam before it goes on the general public site
 
Does anyone know if any major companies have the naming rights to the exhibit?
Surely this has been explored by RZSS and would be welcomed with open arms.
 
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