Your morning adorable: Yun Zi, San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub, is becoming a handful

If there's one thing we're thankful for this Thanksgiving, it is adorable giant panda cubs like Yun Zi, one of the San Diego Zoo's youngest residents. Yun Zi recently reached the age of 100 days, a milestone for giant panda cubs. (In accordance with Chinese tradition, panda cubs can't be formally named until they reach that age.)

Yun Zi's name translates to "Son of Cloud," an homage to his mother, Bai Yun, whose name means "White Cloud."  After the cub's most recent checkup Tuesday, keepers reported that he's becoming a bit of a handful; they had to use both hands to keep him from walking off the examination table! 

Yun Zi and Bai Yun are currently being kept in a den separated from the rest of the zoo's panda population; they'll remain there until the cub is about 5 months old. (Panda fans eager to get a glimpse of the cub in the meantime are encouraged to visit him virtually via the zoo's online Panda Cam.)

RELATED:
Your morning adorable: San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub does a push-up
San Diego Zoo's giant panda, Bai Yun, gives birth to a healthy cub

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Ken Bohn / AFP/Getty Images

San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub gets a name

The suspense is over: In a ceremony Tuesday, San Diego Zoo officials announced the recently selected name of the giant panda cub born there in August. (In accordance with Chinese tradition, the cub couldn't be officially named until he was 100 days old.)

The zoo held a contest to allow members of the public to submit name suggestions for the cub, a healthy male born to mother Bai Yun and father Gao Gao.  Once the submission period closed Oct. 19, zoo staff members selected their five favorite names from more than 6,000 offered by panda fans, which then had to be approved by the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Assn. 

That done, the zoo turned once again to the public to decide on the cub's name, allowing visitors to its website and Facebook fan page to cast their votes for one of the five  finalists: Xiao Long ("Little Dragon"), Xiong Wei ("Extraordinary Bear"), Fu Sheng ("Blissful San Diego"), Yong Xiang ("Eternally Blessed") and Yun Zi ("Son of Cloud"). 

According to the zoo, nearly 18,000 votes were received during the voting period, and the winning name received 28% of the vote.  That name is...

Your morning adorable: Walk like a man, giant panda

How do you prepare giant pandas for mating season?  Well, if you're the staff of the Shaanxi Wild Animal Rescue and Research Center in China's Shaanxi province, you start by strength-training.

So how do you strength-train a panda?

Apparently, you teach him to walk on his hind legs, a mode of locomotion he probably wouldn't try on his own. The method may seem strange, but we're not inclined to scoff -- after all, giant pandas are so endangered that it's believed there are fewer than 2,000 of them left in the wild, so any effort to help the species survive seems worthwhile (even if it does look a little odd).

After the jump, check out more photos of this fellow, an 18-month-old male, getting the hang of walking upright!

Your morning adorable: San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub is growing up (and will soon have a name)

The San Diego Zoo reports that its male giant panda cub, born in early August, is "definitely hitting all the panda milestones," making gains in weight (more than a pound in just the last week, for a current total of 11.7 pounds) and length (24.8 inches from head to tail). 

The zoo held a contest last month to allow the panda-loving public to offer their name suggestions for the cub, who, in accordance with Chinese tradition, won't be officially named until he's 100 days old.  After the submission period was over, keepers, veterinarians, scientists and other zoo staff chose five favorites from the entries. Next, the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Assn. had to approve the five proposed names, and with that done, the zoo allowed visitors to its website and Facebook fan page to vote for their favorite name.

Voting is now over -- the zoo says it received nearly 18,000 votes -- but the suspense continues, because the winning name won't be announced until a Nov. 17 naming ceremony. The five name finalists are Xiǎo Lóng ("Little Dragon"), Xióng Wěi ("Extraordinary Bear"), Fú Shèng ("Blissful San Diego"), Yǒng Xiǎng ("Eternally Blessed") and Yún Zǐ ("Son of Cloud").

RELATED:
Veterinary exam reveals San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub is a healthy male
Can't get enough of the San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub? Meet your new friend, Panda Cam

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: The as-yet-unnamed cub at his 13-week veterinary exam. Credit: Ken Bohn / AFP/Getty Images

Your morning adorable: San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub does a push-up

The San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub was given a clean bill of health in his sixth veterinary exam, performed Thursday. The zoo's senior veterinarian, Dr. Tracy Clippinger, said the cub's eyes and ears are now fully opened, and she expects him to begin crawling over the next two to six weeks. He weighs 7.7 pounds and measures 21.3 inches in length.

In keeping with Chinese tradition, the cub won't be named until after he's 100 days old -- and like Thailand's Chiang Mai Zoo did when deciding upon a name for its resident giant panda cub, the San Diego Zoo is turning to the public for suggestions. (The Chiang Mai Zoo's cub was ultimately given the name Lin Ping, which means "forest of ice" in Chinese and also references a river in Thailand, the Ping, and the name of the cub's mother, Lin Hui.) 

Beginning Saturday, San Diego Zoo visitors will have the opportunity to submit name suggestions at the Giant Panda Research Station. According to the zoo's blog, names should "be in Chinese (Pinyin), have an English translation, be symbolic in meaning" and must be submitted between Oct. 10-19.  For those who can't visit in person, a link will be added to the zoo's website to allow suggestions to be submitted online. 

Once the submission period is over, keepers, veterinarians, scientists and other zoo staff will select their favorite names, which then must be approved by the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Assn. That done, the public will vote to choose between the name finalists on the zoo's website and Facebook fan page. The winning name will be announced Nov. 17.

RELATED:
Veterinary exam reveals San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub is a healthy male
Can't get enough of the San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub? Meet your new friend, Panda Cam

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: The cub flexes the muscles in its arms as it lifts its chest and head during an exam Thursday.  Credit: Ken Bohn / Associated Press

Your morning adorable: Thailand's celebrity panda cub waves to her fans

Thailand's panda-watching public was captivated Saturday when the Chiang Mai Zoo's most adorable resident (sorry; we can't be objective where giant pandas are concerned), Lin Ping, "waved" from the zoo's panda enclosure. The cub had made her official public debut back in July, but Saturday marked the first time she'd been able to cavort before an audience at the zoo's panda exhibit.

The cub was born at the zoo in late May, and her birth came as a wonderful surprise to zoo staff, who didn't know her mother was pregnant. Since then, she's been a big star in Thailand -- as she should be, since she's the first of her species ever successfully bred in the country. The zoo held a contest to name her, and members of the public voted overwhelmingly for the name Lin Ping.  It's representative both of her birthplace (the Ping is a river in Thailand) and her Chinese heritage -- both her parents are on loan to Thailand from China, and Lin Ping translates to "forest of ice" in Chinese. The name also honors Lin Ping's mother, Lin Hui.

RELATED:
Thailand's celebrity panda cub celebrates a milestone
Thailand's celebrity panda cub gets a name
Thailand's elephants are black and white and mad all over as public interest shifts to new panda cub

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Lin Ping is cared for by a veterinarian at the Chiang Mai Zoo's panda enclosure. Credit: European Pressphoto Agency

Veterinary exam reveals San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub is a healthy male

The San Diego Zoo reports that its infant giant panda cub, born last month to Bai Yun, a female on loan to the zoo from China, recently underwent its first veterinary exam.  "It was pretty challenging, trying to crawl into the den and get the cub," senior keeper Kathy Hawk wrote on the zoo's blog.  "[Bai Yun] had done an extremely good job of threading/weaving bamboo to make a nest!"

According to Hawk, the fact that the infant had just finished a round of nursing before being taken to the exam room was fortuitous because, apparently, a full panda cub is a calm panda cub.  The exam took about five minutes in total, including the time needed to take a few measurements.  (The cub weighed 2.8 pounds and measured 14.7 inches in length.)

Zoo veterinarian Dr. Jeff Pye pronounced the baby healthy -- but most importantly for panda-watchers, he was also able to ascertain its gender.  The cub was found to be male, joining older brother Mei Sheng.  Bai Yun and her partner, Gao Gao, also have three older daughters, Hua Mei, Su Lin and Zhen Zhen. 

He has not yet been named.

RELATED:
Can't get enough of the San Diego Zoo's panda cub?  Meet your new best friend, Panda Cam
San Diego Zoo's giant panda, Bai Yun, gives birth to a healthy cub
San Diego Zoo announces giant panda Bai Yun is pregnant (and may give birth to twins

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Ken Bohn / Associated Press

Your morning adorable: Thailand's celebrity panda cub celebrates a milestone

We'll be the first to admit it: We didn't find Lin Ping, the giant panda cub born in late May at Thailand's Chiang Mai Zoo, terribly cute at first. (It's nothing personal -- no giant panda is born looking particularly fetching, but they sure do make up for it as they grow up.)

But the cub recently hit a milestone -- 100 days of age -- and now, we're happy to say, she is so adorable it's almost painful to look at her. And the Thai public seems to feel the same way we do about Lin Ping, the first giant panda ever born in Thailand. To celebrate her one-month birthday, revelers in June enjoyed a giant cake. Thai elephant keepers resorted to an unorthodox protest -- painting their pachyderm charges to resemble giant pandas -- to draw attention to the elephants' plight as the public's interest shifted toward Lin Ping. And, when it came time to name the cub, more than 20 million votes were received.

The name Lin Ping is representative both of the cub's Chinese heritage (her parents are on loan to the Chiang Mai Zoo from China) and her Thai birthplace. The name, which translates to "forest of ice" in Chinese, honors the cub's mother, Lin Hui, and calls to mind the name of the Ping, a river in Thailand.  

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Pongmanat Tasiri / European Pressphoto Agency

Your morning adorable: Thailand's celebrity panda cub gets a name

It's official: Thailand's beloved giant panda cub has a name.  The Chiang Mai Zoo, where the female cub was born in late May, held a naming contest for which it received more than 20 million votes.  Members of the Thai public were given four names to choose from, and the Agence France-Presse reports that about 60% voted for the eventual winner -- Linping.

The name Linping has significance both in Thailand and in China, the country to which the cub officially belongs.  (China sent Linping's parents to Thailand on a 10-year loan that expires in 2013, and the conditions of the loan specify that any offspring the two produce will eventually be returned to China.)  The "Lin" in Linping honors the cub's mother, Lin Hui, and Ping is a river in Thailand.  In Chinese, Linping translates to "forest of ice."

Panda fever took hold in Thailand when the cub was born after many unsuccessful attempts to get Lin Hui to reproduce with male panda Chuang Chuang.  The public's interest in the cub was so great, in fact, that some Thai elephant keepers even painted their charges in panda colors to compete with her popularity.  Thailand's national news bureau has even announced its plan to allow the 11-pound cub to network with her fans on Facebook and Twitter.  See another photo of Linping after the jump!

Can't get enough of the San Diego Zoo's giant panda cub? Meet your new friend, Panda Cam

The San Diego Zoo's newest addition, a giant panda cub born last week, has created such a sensation that the zoo reports its blog has crashed due to the increase in Web traffic.  (Don't fret, zoo-blog readers -- it's expected to be available again shortly.)

For those who just can't get enough baby panda, the zoo's Panda Cam may be just the ticket.  Panda Cam broadcasts a live feed to let the Web-surfing world in on what the pandas are up to, and it can be a pretty intoxicating viewing experience (provided the pandas aren't sleeping).

The baby's sex is not yet known, and the zoo reports that it is currently only about the size of a stick of butter.  Giant pandas are born both hairless and helpless, so mother panda Bai Yun has her work cut out for her in the coming months. 

Fortunately, Bai Yun is an old pro at child-rearing: She's previously given birth to four cubs at the zoo, Hua Mei, Mei Sheng, Su Lin and Zhen Zhen.  The first, Hua Mei, was the first giant panda born in North America to survive to adulthood, and she's since given birth to six cubs of her own.

-- Lindsay Barnett

RELATED:
San Diego Zoo's giant panda, Bai Yun, gives birth to a healthy cub
San Diego Zoo announces giant panda Bai Yun is pregnant (and may give birth to twins)
Pandas to stay at the San Diego Zoo

Photo: Bai Yun with her infant cub shortly after its birth Aug. 5.  Credit: Associated Press