Saturday, March 19, 2011

The Unexpected

Last week, as I passed the panda enclosure, I saw something I’d never seen before. Not only was the panda (I think it was the male, Tian Tian) not eating, but he wasn’t even on the ground!


I’m not sure what he was up to in the tree—maybe some very ambitious scent-marking?—but it was great to see the branches sway and swirl around him as he moved up and down the trunk.


Soon enough, though, he tired of the exercise, and with supreme nonchalance, as if it were something he did every day, lowered himself out of the tree and continued with his panda-y business.



{A note: I do write all text and take all pictures. Please do not reproduce either without my permission.}

2 comments:

Comment1 said...

Wow, I didn't know pandas could climb. They just don't look the type!

Olivia V. Ambrogio said...

I know--I was surprised, too! I've seen the spectacled bears, especially the cubs, up in trees all the time, but it would have never occurred to me that an animal so focused on lying around eating bamboo would have the inclination, not to mention the ability, to climb anything. But it's mating season, so who knows what got into him?

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