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Lun Lun and Mei Lan updates (Just how important is Panda Bear Poop?)
ZooAtlanta ^ | 12/21/2007 | Rebecca Snyder, PhD

Posted on 12/24/2007 8:23:40 AM PST by devane617

Friday, December 21 The topic for today’s update is poop. This idea came to me a few days ago when I watched Mei Lan stand on her head and produce a very adult-looking giant panda poop. The standing on her head part isn’t necessary to do this; that’s just a sign that she’s still a playful kid. However, part of growing up means eating an adult’s diet and having adult feces (a.k.a. poop). Mei Lan started producing feces similar to that of adult pandas when she started eating bamboo. Her feces are still distinguishable from her mother’s, partly because of the smaller size, but also because Mei Lan’s feces are a little sticky because she is still drinking milk.

I’ll bet you don’t know how useful giant panda poop is. The keepers weigh all of the feces produced by our giant pandas every day, because this helps us monitor how well they are eating. The keepers also rate the consistency of all the feces, because this is one way that we assess digestive function. Giant panda feces also contain lots of important and useful information. Scientists at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. developed a technique to extract hormone information from giant panda feces, which is important for monitoring reproductive cycles and stress. Urine is also used for this, but feces are easier to collect. Feces can also be used to extract DNA, which can be used to identify individuals, making it possible to census wild populations by collecting feces. Scientists from Memphis Zoo and Texas A&M University are also developing a new technique using near infrared reflectance spectroscopy to use fecal samples to determine nutrient quality of different bamboo species and to assess an individual panda’s diet quality. This technique also has the potential to use feces to identify an individual’s gender and reproductive status, and possibly even differentiate individuals, which also make it a useful tool for monitoring the wild population. Giant panda poop isn’t just fun for scientists. Staff from the Chiangmai Zoo in Thailand use giant panda feces to make paper products, which they sell in their gift shop. I am the proud owner of some of these items. Our partner, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, even sells preserved giant panda poop on a rope in their gift shop. Something to keep in mind for holiday gift giving next year. Rebecca Snyder, PhD Curator of Carnivores


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: panda; poop; sos; taxdollarsatwork; youpayforthis
Ok, so how much of my tax money from the listed organizations is going toward Panda Bear Poop research? I also wonder who takes possesion of the poop once it has been analyzed as mentioned in the article? I suspect most is beinf funneled into the Panda Bear Poop black-market, where it later pops up as Panda-Bear-Poop-On-A-Rope.
1 posted on 12/24/2007 8:23:43 AM PST by devane617
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To: devane617
That's way more than I ever wanted (or needed) to know about panda poop.
2 posted on 12/24/2007 8:31:52 AM PST by Bob
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To: devane617
I suspect most is beinf funneled into the Panda Bear Poop black-market, where it later pops up as Panda-Bear-Poop-On-A-Rope.

Maybe an astronaut can take into space and they can sell it as "Space Panda Poop" just like the guys did in the sixties.

3 posted on 12/24/2007 8:32:13 AM PST by raybbr (You think it's bad now - wait till the anchor babies start to vote!)
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To: devane617
Feces can also be used to extract DNA, which can be used to identify individuals,

No need to worry who the perp is, just sample the sewer line at everyone's house and you've got the answer.

4 posted on 12/24/2007 8:35:29 AM PST by CholeraJoe ("At last my arm is complete!" Sweeney Todd)
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To: devane617

Another 1 hour show for Mike Rowe and his Dirty Jobs.


5 posted on 12/24/2007 8:43:44 AM PST by Deaf Smith
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To: devane617

...this thread is just.....


6 posted on 12/24/2007 8:45:18 AM PST by skinkinthegrass (just b/c your paranoid, doesn't mean they're NOT out to get you....Run, FRed, Run. :^)
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To: devane617

It’s a sh1tty job but someone has to do it.


7 posted on 12/24/2007 8:45:49 AM PST by NonValueAdded (Fred Dalton Thompson for President)
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To: devane617

“a very adult-looking giant panda poop”

I think I read that wrong the first time.


8 posted on 12/24/2007 8:46:23 AM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: devane617

That's some cute sh*t there, son.

9 posted on 12/24/2007 8:48:23 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: devane617

Reminds me of T.H. White’s “Once and Future King,” where Sir Pellinore collects poop from the Questing Beast, which he keeps in his pockets for comparison purposes.

We take considerable interest in the deer and wild turkey poop in our woods, because it tells us where they like to congregate.

Now we just have to figure out how to burn it in our stove.


10 posted on 12/24/2007 8:49:44 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: devane617

[Giant panda feces also contain lots of important and useful information.]

You better believe it! That’s where I get all the news I live by!

Katie Couric, stand aside!


11 posted on 12/24/2007 9:04:46 AM PST by FastCoyote (I am intolerant of the intolerable.)
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To: FastCoyote

Assuming these are heterosexual Pandas and we’re getting the “straight poop”.


12 posted on 12/24/2007 9:08:44 AM PST by Emmett McCarthy
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To: devane617

Panda Bear Poop futures are up.


13 posted on 12/24/2007 9:17:08 AM PST by Always Right
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To: devane617

Where’s the Aw, not this **** again graphic?


14 posted on 12/24/2007 9:18:14 AM PST by weegee (If Bill Clinton can sit in on Hillary's Cabinet Meetings then GWBush should ask to get to sit in too)
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To: devane617

Just more global warming crap....


15 posted on 12/24/2007 9:36:53 AM PST by Rick.Donaldson (http://www.transasianaxis.com - Visit for lastest on DPRK/Russia/China/Etc --Fred Thompson for Prez.)
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To: devane617

It's Finger Ling Ling Good!

16 posted on 12/24/2007 10:17:44 AM PST by Phantom Lord (Fall on to your knees for the Phantom Lord)
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To: FastCoyote

LOL!

Although I am confused. I thought that was already Katie Couric’s source for all her “news.”


17 posted on 12/24/2007 10:21:15 AM PST by ushr435
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To: devane617

Our teenage dopers would dry it, and smoke it!


18 posted on 12/24/2007 10:22:47 AM PST by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: devane617
The little "Pandas as Olympic Athletes" souvenirs they are going to be selling at the 2008 Olympics are made from...you guessed it!

So the Chinese will literally be selling us shit, and we will literally buy it from them!

19 posted on 12/24/2007 10:23:20 AM PST by Captainpaintball
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To: devane617
Thanks.

Merry Christmas.

FMCDH(BITS)

20 posted on 12/24/2007 12:02:19 PM PST by nothingnew (I fear for my Republic due to marxist influence in our government. Open eyes/see)
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