Panda Cub discovers his dad
Panda Cub Discovers His Dad
Tue Feb 21, 2:41 PM ET
WASHINGTON - At seven months old, the National Zoo's panda cub has finally noticed his father.
Zoo officials said the cub, Tai Shan, is spending more time exploring his outdoor enclosure and lounging away from his mother. And, he has shown signs of recognizing that another adult panda is often in another exercise yard just beyond the fence.
"He noticed his father over the weekend," Lisa Stevens, the zoo's assistant curator, said Tuesday. Tian Tian's enclosure and indoor pen are just a few feet away from the area where Tai Shan has spent has lived with Mei Xiang since she gave birth on July 9.
Zoo staffers have not permitted the cub and his father to be in the same enclosure.
"Although we know very little about what pandas do socially or behaviorally in the wild, there have been no observation of cubs in the proximity of adult males at this age," said Stevens. As a result, there are no plans at the moment for an introduction.
Stevens said both the cub and his father have shown signs of an awareness of each other's scents when they have been in an area the veterinary staff uses for examining the animals. "Pandas do communicate a lot of information by scent marking and leaving their scent on an object," Stevens said.
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