Field Notes
Read up on what Zoo Atlanta's staff is doing all over the world.
Monday, June 1
Well my time here in Chengdu is up, again. I will be leaving on the 1st of June, heading to Shanghai, where I will take a couple of days rest before heading back to Atlanta on the 3rd. Overall, it was an interesting trip with lots of different stories and experiences than I had in 2007. In some ways I am ready to head back and get back to my life, but there is a whole other side that wants to stay in Chengdu longer(probably because I have way too much to do when I get back to Atlanta). It will be nice to get back to Yang Yang, Lun Lun, Mei Lan and Xi Lan and say hello to them. Even though I have some pandas that I really like at the Base here, there is nothing like those four, even on those days that they are driving you nuts. While here, I periodically thought about how I was missing the development of Xi Lan, and wondered how Lun was handling raising a male instead of a female. The web updates do help, but there is nothing like seeing it firsthand. In 2007, I missed the same period in Mei Lan's development, so I was hoping that I would see it this time, but it was not to be. I am sure that he is huge now, and a handful to deal with.
JT Svoke
Keeper III Carnivores
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| Dr. Charlton at Mt. Everest |
Monday, May 11
The playback work for this year is now completed and overall I have to say I am happy with the way things have gone. Consequently, this past week I have been trying to make some headway with writing things up. At the moment I am working on a paper investigating acoustic cues to female estrous stage and social context in female chirp vocalizations. Briefly, we found that female chirp vocalizations given during the female’s most fertile time, just prior to ovulation, differed acoustically from those given a few days earlier in the female’s estrous cycle. This is potentially important because it means that males would be able to use female chirps to determine the exact timing of the female’s fertile phase. In addition, females appear to alter chirps according to whether they are interacting with males or not and even according to which male they are interacting with. These are interesting findings and I hope to have it all written up before I leave Chengdu next Sunday.
Finally, the week before last, I took my long awaited trip up to Tibet and out to Everest Base Camp. I have wanted to go there for as long as I can remember. For me, seeing the light playing on the north face of Mount Everest as the sun set and rose again the next morning really was the experience of a lifetime.
Dr. Benjamin D. Charlton
Postdoctoral Research Biologist
Wednesday, May 6
What else was in the box? Well, it also included an enrichment toy for the pandas at the Chengdu Zoo. Specifically, the toy was a large plastic ball (that has a variety of names). It's a common enrichment item used throughout most zoos in North America. Unfortunately, that type of ball is not available in China. Luckily there are a lot of great panda fans out there in the world that helped me out (with the assistance of my fellow panda keepers back in Atlanta) by securing two for the pandas at the Chengdu Zoo. Over a month ago, a keeper at the Chengdu Zoo was asking me about items that we use to enrich our pandas and where we get the items. We ended up talking for three hours that day about different simple items that can be used and different ways of presenting the objects. A few days later I was able to present him with a CD that contained the full list of items that we use in Atlanta, as well as some pictures. Luckily, I had brought that CD with me just in case the keepers here were interested in enrichment. Specifically he asked about large balls that we might use, and I just mentioned that there are a number of different companies in the US that make and distribute them. He had been looking online in China and here locally in Chengdu but had not been able to procure any that were suitable for the pandas. He did joke that he should start up his own company making similar things for the zoo market in China, which could be a good idea. So, I thought that it would be a nice surprise to get some for him, and I guess more specifically the pandas.
When I took both balls into the zoo and he saw them for the first time, he was extremely happy. He was also surprised that people would be willing to donate money just to get them, but I assured him that there are many people willing when it goes to a good cause. The pandas have yet to see them, though, as he wants to add holes to one of them to be able to put food inside. Also, I want to be there the first time that the panda receive them, so that I can capture it on video or in photos. Then I can share the moment with all of you that helped out. Nevertheless, I am sure that the pandas will enjoy them.
Lastly, I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you out there that helped in enriching the lives of some of the pandas here in Chengdu.
Joseph T. Svoke
Carnivore Keeper III
Friday, April 24
Since arriving back in Chengdu last Thursday, the hot weather has prevented me from making much headway with the playback work. This is because the giant pandas at the Research Base are given access to their indoor enclosures when it is warm and they mostly stay inside given the opportunity. Consequently, I focused on behavioral analysis of video data last week and added some of the experimental work I completed at Bi Feng Xi to a paper I had partially written up last year. So, this work is now ready for submission to an international journal. I am also currently writing up some of the other experiments that have been completed this year. Writing papers for submission to top journals is time consuming and will take up a large chunk of my time from now to the end of the year. Nevertheless, for the rest of my time here I will be trying to conduct playback experiments whenever I have the opportunity.
Last Friday Jen (Keating) flew back to the States after 6 weeks at Bi Feng Xi recording male giant pandas for our study of male vocal characteristics versus testosterone levels. Jen did a great job and we saw her off with a few beers. The collaborative effort between Zoo Atlanta and San Diego Zoo has been a real success so far and this is mostly because of Jen’s fantastic efforts to get quality recordings of giant panda vocalizations, which believe me, is no simple task. Well done Jen!
Dr. Benjamin D. Charlton,
Postdoctoral Research Biologist
Wednesday, April 22
Currently, I am still collecting data on just two female giant pandas for the reproductive behavior study. One of those females, Cheng Gong, finally decided to go into estrus on the 10th of this month. I have been waiting a long time for her to officially enter her estrus period. A couple of weeks after I arrived, I thought that she was close to cycling, because she was doing lots of scent marking, urinating, and a behavior that we call "water play." But, for some unknown reason, she returned to her typical behavior soon after I observed these behaviors. Although the behavioral changes did coincide with a drop in temperature, as well as a change in housing, it is hard to pinpoint exactly what caused them. From what I know of Cheng Gong's previous cycles, this is fairly late in the season for her to enter estrus. Most of the females here seem to be cycling late this year, though; only a few have begun to cycle so far. I have speculated with people here in Chengdu about why this is the case, but we never did come to a consensus about why this is occurring.
The weekend after Cheng Gong cycled I had plans to head to another panda base in Bi Feng Xia to see the giant pandas there, as well as the scenery. After the earthquake last year, the facility in Wolong suffered a lot of damage, so most of their pandas were relocated to Bi Feng Xia. So, I made it my goal this time to see my third panda base here in China (I saw Wolong back in 2007). Originally, I had planned to travel down to Bi Feng Xia when Ben was doing his work down there, but our schedules never seemed to coincide. It turned out to be an interesting adventure, as I was armed only with information that I found online, which was very limited. As a result, I have many interesting stories to tell friends back in Atlanta now. Overall, I was happy that I went, but I would not do the trip again, at least by myself. At least I can say now that I have used the long distance bus system in Chengdu, which was both easy and cheap to use.
On a side note I would like to thank the panda fans out there for the selection of candy that I received in a box today. It was an unexpected surprise, and greatly appreciated. Now I will have to use all my will power not to eat it all in one week. That was not the only thing in the box, but I will cover that in my next update, so stay tuned to find out more.
Joseph T. Svoke
Carnivore Keeper III
Wednesday, April 15
Since my last update I have been very busy indeed. Firstly, I have finished off an experiment at Chengdu Research Base looking at male and female responses to modified bleats simulating large and small males with differing motivational levels. I then came back to Bi Fengxia last Wednesday to finish off an experiment testing female discrimination of different male callers. I have now shown that females discriminate between different male callers and that they do not rely on the pitch of the male call to do so. Moreover, I have been playing back modified male bleats to investigate the importance of the distinctive amplitude (volume) modulation of these vocalizations for signaling male identity. Preliminary results reveal that this is in fact the most important acoustic feature that females are using to discriminate between different males.
I am also continuing to play back chirps from females at different reproductive stages (fertile versus non-fertile) to males at Bi Fengxia. I am working on getting access to more male giant pandas for this experiment and so far I have managed to get another male called Xi Meng, who was previously inaccessible to playback, moved up to the breeding centre. Finally, because I have a strong feeling that caller familiarity may be an important in reproductive contexts, I am playing back familiar versus unfamiliar males to investigate female responses. At the moment this is only a pilot experiment; however, it may reveal something that will lead us to some exciting future playback studies.
Dr. Benjamin D. Charlton
Postdoctoral Research Biologist
Friday, April 10
I feel like I have been playing a never-ending game of "Marco Polo" with the pandas that I observe. The problem, however, is that the pandas are not playing fairly. two of the bears at the Base have been moved multiple times, both between locations and within exhibits. In my last update I mentioned that pandas were being moved around and that I needed to pay attention, and that is exactly what I have had to do. When I show up to the exhibit space and I say to myself, "that is not the correct bear," I'm happy that I can easily identify the animals. The problem is that after I realize I haven't found the right bear, I then have to figure out where the bear has been moved to. Eventually I find them by going off what I have typically seen happen with moves in the past. These moves are all in reference to breeding potential so the moves are not needless and they do make sense. Still, it would be nice if the pandas played by the rules.
Not much to report otherwise, as the last week has been basically non- existent. All of last week I was basically laid up in bed, sick. I never figured out exactly what it was that I had, but it initially presented itself as a nasty cold, but then reverted to something more like food poisoning. The odd thing was that two other people that I know here experienced the same thing, but we all got it on different days. Of course the coworkers at the panda base were all worried and wanted to take me to the hospital, because they said I did not look good and were concerned. It is nice to have people so concerned, but because I'm so bull-headed sometimes (right mom!), I didn't take their advice and I just waited it out. So, I just lay in bed for about a week, until I was able to eat and get around again. Hopefully my next update will have something more interesting to report.
Joseph T. Svoke
Carnivore Keeper III
Friday, March 27
Since I have been back at the Chengdu Research Base I have conducted around 60 playbacks of re-synthesised bleats to male and female giant pandas. For these experiments I have manipulated the rate and extent of the characteristic pitch modulation of these calls (if you haven’t heard a giant panda bleat, just imagine a sheep or goat bleat). The rate and extent of pitch modulation is
certainly an acoustic cue to the caller’s motivational levels in giant pandas. The prediction is that giant pandas will show more attention to bleats indicating highly motivated callers; however, I also think we may find some interesting sex differences in their responses.
So far only one female (Li Li) has gone through estrus at the Base, but I am sure it will get very busy this week. The weather has suddenly changed and we are now having sunny and relatively clear days. Some of the researchers at the base think that temperature has a bearing on female estrus onset. Personally, I think that the greater light intensity of sunny days is the most likely factor affecting the onset of female estrus. I will be pressing on this week with another playback study, in which I will be presenting male and female giant pandas with bleat vocalizations representing different size callers. Although I looked at this last year, I only managed to include six male subjects in the experiment. Because I now have greater experience of giant panda behaviour and the best playback approaches for this species, I should be able to do a more controlled experiment on a larger sample size this year.
Dr. Benjamin D. Charlton
Postdoctoral Research Biologist
