I read on PandaNews.org yesterday that if you plan on visiting the new panda baby in Thailand you’ll be in line for quite some time – until January to be exact!

Isn’t the cub such a cutie?! I’d wait until January to see the little one. Of course, by then she won’t be so little!

Photo Source

I’ve finally resolved the issues with the server and I’m happy to announce that all backdated posts have been uploaded to the site, so be sure to check out the past 3 weeks worth of posts for a ton of panda goodness!

Thanks for being so patient while we worked out the issues. Hopefully there won’t be any more issues!

Julie

P.S. In case you didn’t know, Xi Lan’s panda cam is back up thanks to the awesome support from EarthCam! Yay!

Go check him out – he’s in the beyond adorable phase!

I remember when he was just my little Vienna Sausage! On Monday, the little guy had a little fun in the snow – for the first time ever!

There’s only one word for it when this young cub got sight of his first ever snow – panda-monium.

Giant panda cub Fu Long was clearly delighted to be frolicking with his proud mum at Vienna’s Schönbrunn zoo as heavy snow covered the whole of Europe.

And 18-month-old Fu Long really got a taste for snow – gobbling down mouthfuls of the stuff as if it was ice cream, said his keepers at the Austrian zoo.

Isn’t he too cute for words?!

Source

Pandas International is offering this adorable panda valentine package for a donation of only $25.00.

If When you order, you get a lovely panda valentine card and a cute plush panda with red ribbon. A perfect valentine for the panda lover in your life!

It’s been awhile since we had a Xi Lan update, so without further ado…

How about a few Xi Lan videos?

Xi Lan wallpaper!

And a bunch of adorable Xi Lan photos!

Source (of course!)

If I wasn’t in the midst of finals and graduation during the time that this WWF trip is scheduled (May 4 – May 17, 2009), I would definitely be saving up for it – it looks so fun!

Not only do you get to tour all the best parts of China, you get to spend three days with the pandas! I think the $5,890 they’re booking this for is extremely reasonable – especially for a 2 week vacation, don’t you?

So jealous. Some day I will have enough money and time to go to China. *Sigh*

Check out  the trip brochure here.

People just won’t leave poor Gu Gu alone! Yet another idiot person entered Gu Gu’s cage uninvited. This time it was a father going after a toy his child carelessly tossed into the enclosure. This makes the third person that has been intimately acquainted with Gu Gu’s canines.

When will people learn to respect animals, not only in the zoo, but in general? I don’t feel a bit of sympathy for the man, who I refuse to call the ‘victim’.

The real victim is Gu Gu.

Source

Wow, I definitely needed that break! It’s been great having less on my plate for awhile but it’s time to get back into the swing of things! Let’s start 2009 out right with an adorable video of Xi Lan at the Atlanta Zoo! (Click the picture below to go to the video!)

I noticed yesterday when I was checking the Atlanta Zoo’s Panda Cam that they have announced the end of the panda cam due to funding. You can read the press release here.

Giant panda devotees are encouraged to enjoy PandaCam peeks on weekdays from 10 to 5 through the end of the year. While PandaCam has been a favorite stop on zooatlanta.org for more than a decade, Zoo Atlanta has announced that this feature will soon come to an end. Due to limited resources, PandaCam will not be available after December 31, 2008.

I’m a bit bitter about this and I find it hard to believe that they don’t have the funding to continue. I am no where near a zoo with a panda and I don’t have the luxury (or the funding!) to jet off to D.C, Atlanta, or San Diego when I’m in the mood for panda viewing. Watching Tai Shan during his first months of life on the National Zoo’s Panda Cam helped get me through a very rough patch in my life. Something as simple as 10 minutes a day watching a little panda cub grow made such a difference in my life – and other’s I’ve been told. It seems silly that something that small and insignificant could mean so much to so many people, but it does, and it makes me extremely sad that the Atlanta Zoo is choosing to eliminate something that is such an important part of so many panda lover’s lives.

Not to mention I’m sure there are companies out there that would sponsor the panda cam…