Two words: PANDA CAM.
I was down in Atlanta last week, and though we opted to visit the Georgia Aquarium in lieu of Zoo AtlantaPANDA CAM while I was down there. With this nifty device (a website with streaming video of the Panda habitat) you can watch baby cub Mei Lan and her mommy, Lun Lun, eat, sleep, play, sleep, climb, sleep and sleep all day long (well, at least from 10AM to 5PM EST).
Seriously, I could not have imagined how addicted I would become to this little thing. But for the past four days, once I notice it's 10 o'clock, I think, (incidentally on the same day Norton, the second whale shark to die at the aquarium this year, stopped swimming), I did learn about the super-cool Gee, I wonder what baby panda cub Mei Lan is up to this morning, is she as industrious as my Google fox friend?...let's just take a look see... and she never is, preferring naps in the sunshine and perfecting her climbing skills to picking oranges and feeding birds, but I'm always hooked for the day nevertheless.
One thing I do often find myself wishing for is some sort of FAQ on the website next to the footage. Sometimes I watch that Lun Lun manhandle baby Mei Lan, and I'm pretty sure that momma hates baby panda cub. Is this behavior I'm witnessing normal panda bear behavior? Right, sure, they're bears, panda bears...but are we sure that all of Lun Lun's years in captivity have not sucked away all of her maternal instinct and affection? Have they not bred some crazy, abusive monster panda? Well, I hope not...for this one's sake:
And please, would someone kindly ask these guys to quit wandering out of the frame?
