A Close-Up Look at the New Pandas in Town

Panda-monium is breaking out on the airwaves.

On Sunday, PBS’ “Nature” series presents the “ahhhh” inspiring “The Panda Baby,” an hourlong documentary on the first successful birth of a giant panda outside of China.

Three weeks later--on April 22--cable’s Animal Planet airs “Meet the Pandas: Washington’s New Power Couple,” which offers an up-close-and-personal look at Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the new juvenile pandas residing at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

In August 1999, the San Diego Zoo witnessed the birth of Hua Mei to her mother, then 8-year-old Bai Yun. Five other panda cubs had been born in the United States but all had died by the time they were 4 days old.

Bai Yun proved to be an extraordinarily attentive and loving mother, and the tiny black-and-white ball of fur grew and thrived and has become a symbol for the international effort to save these remarkable animals from China from extinction. The giant panda, in fact, has become the most recognizable symbol for all of the world’s endangered animals.

Hua Mei, who is weaned from her mother and lives in her “apartment” at the San Diego Zoo, has had an incredible effect on people, according to Dr. Donald Lindburg, leader of the giant panda team at the zoo.

“Without equal in my experience of 20 years working with this zoo, we really, quite honestly, did not anticipate the impact she would create,” says Lindburg.

Not only have millions of people watched Hua Mei grow up via the zoo’s Panda Cam, says Lindburg, “we find it very gratifying the number of schools and schoolchildren who have written to tell us stories about their infatuation with Hua Mei and how it has altered their curriculum--offering courses in conservation or starting local conservation projects.”

Fred Kaufman, executive producer of “Nature,” says the San Diego Zoo had approached the PBS series about doing a special on Bai Yun and the male panda, Shi Shi. Kaufman, though, didn’t think there was a reason to produce a documentary until there was a baby.

“When Hua Mei was born and she was out of danger and fine, it dawned on me now was the time to do the film because it is about the efforts of having a successful birth in the United States.”

The title, “The Panda Baby,” says Kaufman, doesn’t really do justice to the subject matter. “You are doing a show on a particular baby animal? How interesting can one animal be? What really was exciting was the effort, the money, the collaboration of scientists, the energy and commitment to get a successful birth here in the States.”

Bai Yun and Shi Shi arrived at the zoo in 1996 on a 12-year loan from China. Bai Yun was born and raised in captivity at the Wolong panda conservation center in China, but Shi Shi had been rescued in the wild after a serious injury.

All attempts to mate the two failed when Shi Shi showed no interest in Bai Yun.

“There was this frisky young woman and this kind of old curmudgeon who didn’t seem to have any interest,” says Kaufman. “They tried artificial insemination and that didn’t work. Ultimately, they got it right and [the birth] happened. All of these twists and turns make for a good story.”

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Now that Bai Yun and Hua Mei were separated last month, at the same time these solitary creatures would go their separate ways in the wild, Lindburg and his team hope Bai Yun will become pregnant this year.

And Hua Mei has developed from an adorable little baby to an equally charming young girl. “She is very comfortable with her keepers,” Lindburg says. “She sits and waits for them to interact with her. Hua Mei is already in training. They are getting her used to being handled and touched.”

According to Brenda Morgan, panda keeper at the National Zoo, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are adjusting well to life in America. Both were raised at Wolong in China.

“They are doing really, really well,” says Morgan, who also was keeper of the beloved, late National Zoo pandas Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling. “Certainly, their nights and days were turned around a bit. They had to learn English, but it was almost as if they had never been anywhere but here.”

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian spend most of their days playing together, putting on quite a show of acrobatics and high jinks for their fans at the zoo, as well as for those who watch them on their panda cam at Discovery.com.

The two pandas have very distinct personalities. “Tian Tian seems to have the boundless teenage boy energy that never stops,” Morgan says. “Mei Xiang is frequently like, ‘I’ve had enough of this.’ She can back him off by barking at him and or going up the tree.”

“Meet the Pandas” is the first of four planned Animal Planet specials on Mei Xiang and Tian Tian during the 10-year period they are on loan to the National Zoo.

Animal Planet, says Vice President of Production David E. Gerber, is one of the corporate sponsors that helped bring the pandas to America. “There is not a wealth of panda programming out there,” he says. “It’s hard to go wrong with these adorable creatures. [The original pandas] were essentially gifts from China. These pandas now are part of an international conservation project that will lead to not only increased interest in the species, but also scientific information that will help their survival and make sure these species doesn’t disappear.”

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“Nature: The Panda Baby” airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on KCET-TV and KVCR-TV; “Meet the Pandas: Washington’s New Power Couple” can be seen April 22 at 9 p.m on Animal Planet. Hua Mei as well as Mei Xiang and Tian Tian can be viewed on the Internet. Hua Mei is at www.sandiegozoo.org/special/pandas/pandacam and Mei Xiang and Tian Tian at animal.discovery.com/panda/cam1_alt.html.