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1:56

Hey friends, it's Jane. Last

1:58

year I visited the giant... pandas at the

2:00

Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington,

2:03

D.C. Pandas only exist

2:05

in the wild in China, and the

2:07

pandas at the D.C. Zoo were on

2:09

loan from the Chinese government. Just

2:12

recently, China decided that it was time for

2:14

the pandas to return home, so

2:16

the three pandas I met were loaded

2:18

up into special carriers and returned safely

2:20

to Chengdu, China. With these pandas

2:23

in the news so much, we thought you might be hearing

2:25

about them, and we wanted you to be able to

2:27

listen back to our panda episode to

2:29

learn

2:29

more about them. Enjoy! In

2:57

this show, we answer questions from you,

3:00

kids listening around the world, and it's our

3:02

job to find answers for you. Usually,

3:05

we're doing that work from our home base here in Vermont,

3:08

but sometimes

3:08

we get to go report from other places,

3:11

and we take your questions with us.

3:13

For this episode, we got to go on a

3:15

field trip to learn a little bit more about

3:17

an animal that sounds like this. That

3:23

was a newborn. Do you know what it is?

3:26

Let's hear what this animal sounds like when

3:28

it's a kid. These

3:35

animals can bleat, honk, and chirp,

3:38

roar, and squeal. Got

3:40

any guesses? We'll give

3:42

you two more examples. Here's

3:44

an adult female and an adult male.

3:53

Want to know the answer? Those

3:55

are the sounds made by pandas.

3:58

The giant panda is a bear that's not a bear. that lives

4:00

in the wild in China. Unfortunately,

4:03

we did not get to go to China to report

4:05

this episode, but we did get

4:07

to go to one of the few places in the United

4:09

States where you can meet one of these bears,

4:12

the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

4:15

National Zoo has been taking care of pandas

4:18

for 50 years now, and what

4:20

you just heard is from their panda exhibit,

4:22

where you can read all about the bears and

4:24

their behavior and play their various calls.

4:28

But you don't just get to read about pandas,

4:30

you get to see them. There are three

4:32

pandas living at the zoo right now, an

4:35

adult male named Qian Qian, an

4:37

adult female named Meijian, and

4:40

their youngest cub named Xia Qiji.

4:43

Xia Qiji will turn two this summer,

4:45

and the parents are both in their 20s. That

4:48

would make them very, very old pandas

4:50

if they were living in the wild. Animals

4:52

living in zoos have lots of good food

4:55

and no predators. They also have

4:57

plenty of people, like animal doctors

4:59

called veterinarians, to make sure they stay

5:01

healthy so they can live a little longer. Today

5:05

we're going to go behind the scenes at the zoo to

5:07

see the bears and learn more about how the

5:09

zookeepers take care of them. And

5:11

I know you're wondering, so I'm just gonna say it right

5:13

here at the start, no, I did not

5:16

get to touch the pandas. Pandas

5:18

are big bears with big teeth and claws,

5:21

and even though they eat plants, not meat,

5:23

they're wild animals. So none

5:25

of the panda handlers are ever in the enclosure

5:28

with loose pandas, and I wasn't

5:29

either.

5:32

I got to the zoo

5:34

really early on a rainy morning before

5:36

visitors are allowed in. That's

5:38

when the staff is busy getting animals their

5:41

breakfasts and setting up their outdoor spaces.

5:44

I started off in a locked area that regular

5:46

zoo visitors don't get to see. It was

5:48

kind of in between the outdoor play

5:50

area and the indoor play area for

5:53

the pandas. Hi, I'm Jane.

5:55

Nice to meet you. And I was joined by

5:58

a zookeeper. My name is Marielle Lally.

5:59

and I am a giant

6:02

panda keeper at Smithsonian's National Zoo

6:04

and Conservation Biology Institute.

6:06

I'm gonna let you get to your work but before you do that sounds

6:08

like a job that every kid wants. Is it

6:10

as good as everybody thinks it is?

6:13

Being a giant panda keeper is a really fun

6:15

job and it's extremely

6:18

fun and rewarding. We get to work with these

6:21

awesome species but at the same

6:23

time it's a very dirty job because most of

6:25

my day actually revolves around panda poop.

6:28

Okay maybe it's not always

6:30

as fun to be a zookeeper as I imagined.

6:33

Mariel didn't make me pick up any panda poop

6:36

but she did let me follow her around as she

6:38

did some

6:39

other chores. We are behind

6:41

the scenes of our enclosures one

6:43

and two and our yards one and two.

6:45

So this is a space that is

6:48

only used by keepers and it is

6:50

where we are able to shift the bears

6:52

around and get to them a little bit more

6:55

closely and in this space

6:57

is where we do a lot of our training with the pandas

7:00

if we're not doing any medical procedures

7:03

and it's also a space that

7:05

we are able to navigate

7:08

their enclosures in a very

7:10

safe manner. So we're gonna start going through a bunch

7:12

of different gates and we're gonna

7:14

make our way over to the bamboo shed so

7:17

that we can get them some bamboo for breakfast.

7:20

So just watch our staff coming through here. So Maishaan

7:22

is

7:22

telling us good morning.

7:24

Is she using sign language? So

7:27

she has this little behavior

7:29

that she usually does when she's anticipating

7:32

us to start feeding her which is

7:34

just what she was doing there. So she

7:36

is looking out at us like hey keepers I know

7:38

breakfast is coming and I'm very ready for

7:41

it. She was kind of putting her hand up like hey

7:43

no come over here. Yes.

7:45

Maishaan and her cub were in their indoor

7:47

enclosure where they spent the night and

7:50

they were definitely ready for breakfast.

7:52

So we hustled over to the bamboo shed which

7:54

is in a little building in the outside enclosure.

7:57

It's called a shed but it's actually pretty high-tech.

7:59

It's climate controlled, so

8:02

the bamboo doesn't get too hot

8:04

or too cold. And there's even

8:06

a sprinkler system that sprays water over

8:08

the plants to keep them from drying out. Kind

8:11

of like the mist you might sometimes see getting spritzed

8:13

over lettuce at the grocery store. We

8:16

get bamboo deliveries about twice a week.

8:18

Right now the pandas are eating well

8:21

over 100 pounds of bamboo every

8:23

single day. So we

8:26

go through a lot of bamboo and

8:28

their favorite species is actually yellow-grew

8:31

bamboo, but we feed out a variety of

8:33

different species depending on the time of year.

8:36

The zoo grows most of its own bamboo, but

8:38

it also cuts some from other people's yards

8:41

with their permission of course. Mariel

8:44

helped some of the other zoo workers get long

8:46

stalks of bamboo off a truck and into

8:49

the bamboo shed. Such stalks

8:51

of bamboo was taller than I am and had

8:53

lots of light green leaves branching out

8:55

from it. So you're weighing

8:57

this? So I'm weighing the bamboo. So

8:59

we weigh out all of the giant pandas'

9:02

bamboo and then we

9:04

are able to track their consumption.

9:06

So after we weigh out the bamboo,

9:09

we'll feed it to the pandas and then when it is time

9:11

to give the pandas fresh bamboo, we look at the

9:14

bamboo and see how much of the leaves did they eat

9:16

and how much of the comb did they eat. We

9:19

eat different parts of the bamboo throughout the year

9:22

depending on where the most nutrition is

9:24

in the plant. So right now I have about 5

9:26

kilograms of bamboo, so we're going to go ahead and

9:29

we're going to put this into one of the panda yards

9:31

and then I'll come back and get about another 5 kilograms

9:33

of bamboo. She

9:36

dragged

9:36

the big bushel of bamboo over to where the pandas

9:38

like to hang out outside. Panda

9:41

are pretty funny and they tend to like to eat

9:43

with a backrest. So we

9:46

tend to put their bamboo next to something

9:48

that they could lean against, whether it is the back

9:50

of the enclosure so they're leaning against the stone

9:52

wall or I'm going to put these next couple

9:54

pieces over by a tree so that they could

9:56

eat with their back up by the tree.

9:59

working on feeding the pandas.

10:01

I asked her a few of your panda questions.

10:04

My name is Ayla. I

10:06

feed your nose. I live in San Francisco

10:08

and my question is, why do animals

10:11

live in the zoo? Why do

10:13

animals have to be in zoos? Why are they in zoos?

10:16

So

10:16

that's a really great question. Zoos have

10:20

really changed over time. So

10:22

today's modern zoos. We

10:24

are all about saving species and

10:27

also having ambassador animals that

10:29

people are able to see that gets them more

10:32

involved in conservation. So giant

10:34

pandas are a perfect conservation

10:36

story because there were once an endangered species.

10:39

But thanks to zoos and

10:41

the collaboration with China,

10:44

we have been able to take giant pandas in the

10:46

wild from endangered to

10:48

just vulnerable. So it's a really

10:50

big success story. So all of

10:52

the animals in the zoos are part of a bigger

10:54

picture of conservation, whether they're

10:56

participating in a breeding program

10:59

or they're just here so that people come and see

11:01

them and get excited about ways that

11:04

they can help conserve their wild habitat

11:06

and all of their wild counterparts. And

11:08

you say that's a change. That's a change from what

11:11

the mission of zoos were 50 years

11:13

ago maybe? So even 50 years

11:15

ago we did have conservation programs

11:18

in zoos. But when you're thinking back

11:20

to the original zoos many many years

11:22

ago where it just looked like animals on display

11:24

for human enjoyment, it is not

11:26

like that at all anymore. So yes

11:29

they are here for our enjoyment and to get us excited

11:32

and there's nothing better than seeing a child's

11:34

eyes light up when they see a giant panda for the

11:36

first time. But it all is just

11:38

part of that bigger conservation picture.

11:41

And in fact I said 50 years but yes of course

11:43

this is the 50th anniversary of the panda project

11:45

right? So this has been going on here at the zoo for 50

11:48

years. So

11:48

yes this year is our 50-year anniversary

11:51

of when Ling Ling and Xing Xing came over

11:54

from China. And it is a really big

11:56

deal that we just hit our 50-year mark

11:58

here at National Zoo. We have accomplished

12:01

so much with our Chinese colleagues.

12:03

And it has just been really rewarding to see

12:06

how far the panda program has gone here

12:08

at National Zoo.

12:10

The panda program is pretty interesting. Only

12:12

three zoos in the United States have pandas.

12:15

And there are pandas in about 25 other countries

12:17

as well. All of these pandas

12:19

originally came from China, which is the

12:21

only place in the world pandas live in the

12:24

wild. As Mariel said,

12:26

pandas used to be considered endangered.

12:29

That means they were at risk of going extinct,

12:31

being totally gone. Pandas

12:33

are still rare, but now their official status

12:36

is a little better than endangered. When

12:38

a panda cub like Shao Qiji is born

12:40

at a U.S. zoo, it lives with its mom

12:42

for a few years and then it actually goes

12:45

back to China. So pandas

12:47

are kind of on loan, I guess you could say, from

12:49

China.

12:50

My name is Coco from North Carolina.

12:54

And my question is, do panda

12:56

bears hibernate? Pandas do

12:58

not hibernate. Where they come from in the

13:00

wild, they have no reason to hibernate.

13:02

So they also do not hibernate here at the zoo.

13:05

But what's really interesting about pandas is

13:07

actually they spend the majority of their day

13:10

either eating or sleeping. And multiple

13:12

times throughout the day, they go into an extremely

13:14

deep sleep and they go into an extremely,

13:17

extremely deep sleep, but they do not hibernate.

13:19

But one funny thing of that us panda

13:21

keepers know is that you never wake up

13:24

a sleeping panda. A good rule

13:26

of thumb is never wake a sleeping bear, but

13:28

especially a panda. So when they go into

13:31

that very deep sleep, if you do

13:33

as much as just whisper their name and

13:35

wake them up, they are going to

13:37

be very grumpy. So

13:39

when a panda is sleeping, we just let them

13:41

sleep. So I'm going to get just a little

13:44

bit more bamboo.

13:46

Once the panda's food is out, they get

13:48

enrichment items. That's just

13:50

another way of saying toys and snacks. In

13:52

addition to bamboo, the pandas at the zoo also

13:55

receive leaf eater biscuits, which

13:57

have

13:58

tons of different nutrients. in them and

14:00

they are these little itty bitty biscuits that we're able to

14:03

put into toys or feeders

14:05

as we call them, which is the type of enrichment

14:07

that keeps the pandas active. So

14:09

the pandas are actually being fed here

14:11

at the zoo, the same thing they would eat in the

14:13

wild, which is bamboo. So they have the opportunity

14:16

to eat in a very natural way. But

14:18

it's also really good to use enrichment with them because

14:20

it keeps their mind stimulated, their

14:22

body stimulated, and it also is really

14:25

enjoyable for the visitors to see the pandas interacting

14:28

with different items. And if you

14:30

want to picture it, it's kind of like if you have a dog

14:32

or a cat and you might have one of those

14:35

balls that you put food into and then they have to

14:37

sort of roll it around to get the food out.

14:39

It's kind of like that, but much bigger. Exactly.

14:42

It is just like the same thing that you would give to your

14:44

dog or cat, but on a much bigger scale for

14:46

a bear. And there are certain

14:48

enrichment items that we're able to give to Mei Xiang

14:51

because she is very precise in the way that

14:53

she works with her enrichment that we can't

14:55

also give to Tian Tian because Tian Tian

14:57

would prefer to just bang things around until

15:00

food falls out of it. But Mei Xiang

15:02

is able to figure out almost any

15:04

type of enrichment item. She is

15:07

very articulate in the way that she does things.

15:09

So it's a lot of fun, especially

15:11

with her making an enrichment

15:14

and seeing the way that she interacts with it.

15:17

Then one of the pandas started making noise

15:19

from inside the indoor enclosure. So

15:21

I asked Mariel what it was trying to say.

15:24

So that was actually our cup

15:27

and he was probably communicating

15:29

that he is also ready for breakfast. So

15:32

one thing we have noticed with him is that he

15:34

has picked up on being very

15:36

vocal and he lets us know if we're running

15:39

a minute late.

15:41

So a lot of times we'll hear that and

15:43

he's like, I know you're on the other side of the door

15:45

and I'm ready to eat. You guys better hurry

15:47

up.

15:49

Coming up, Xiao Qiji finally gets

15:51

his breakfast. And we answer more of your

15:53

questions.

15:56

This is But Why, a podcast for curious

15:58

kids. I'm Jane Austen. and today we're

16:01

learning about pandas at the Smithsonian

16:03

National Zoo in Washington, D.C. For 50

16:07

years, the zoo has worked with colleagues in

16:09

China to learn more about pandas and

16:12

to help save them in the wild. We're

16:14

talking to zookeeper Marielle Lolly as

16:16

she goes about her morning chores, getting

16:18

the panda play areas ready for the pandas

16:20

to come outside in the morning, and getting

16:22

their breakfast ready. After

16:25

the pandas got weighed by another zookeeper,

16:27

they were let out of their indoor enclosures, and they

16:29

raced outside to go explore the yard. The

16:32

cub, Shao Qigi, trundled down

16:34

to where some bamboo had been leaned up against

16:36

a tree, and he began to munch away. His

16:39

mother, Mei Xiang, wandered over

16:41

to where we were sitting behind a closed gate.

16:44

She found one of those big toys that Marielle had filled

16:46

with biscuits, and she lay down and started

16:48

to shake the treats out. She is using

16:50

her toy to get her biscuits out, and this is

16:52

the very special Mei Xiang Wei. So

16:55

this is something that Pian Tian has never done.

16:58

None of our other cubs have done this

17:00

either, but Shao Qigi has somehow

17:02

figured out exactly how to do

17:04

this. So

17:08

he

17:10

is

17:11

communicating to me

17:13

that he is ready for something,

17:15

whether that is some training, or

17:18

just a little bit of play, or the

17:20

leftovers of his breakfast. So

17:22

just to ensure that he's going to get his portion

17:25

of food, and that Mei Xiang is going to receive

17:27

his portion of food, I'm going to close

17:29

this door temporarily.

17:30

Hey buddy.

17:33

Marielle closed a door so the cub and his

17:35

mother were separated from one another. And then

17:38

Marielle started working with the bears in what she

17:40

called a training session. Marielle

17:42

would make a hand signal and say a word,

17:44

like stand up, or mouth,

17:47

and when the bear stood up or opened its mouth,

17:50

it would get a treat. And why

17:52

do you do a training session?

17:53

This isn't like a circus where they need to perform.

17:56

So training is actually extremely

17:59

important. for zoo animals, especially

18:01

ones that we're not able to share the same space

18:04

as. So right now I'm asking

18:06

Mei Chang to put her paws up

18:08

for me, which gives me a really good look,

18:11

good girl, at her paw

18:13

pads and also her

18:15

claws. So say she

18:18

cut her foot on something. When I asked her

18:20

to put her paws up for me like that, I

18:22

can see if she has any injuries

18:25

or anything of that manner. Another

18:28

thing that we work on with them, open, good,

18:31

is asking them to open their mouth so that

18:33

we can get a good look at their

18:34

teeth. And

18:36

just like us, we do have a

18:38

dentist that will come in and do dental work

18:40

on the animals here at the zoo. So we want

18:42

to make sure that we get a really good look at

18:44

their teeth every single day. But

18:46

training is really just something that

18:49

helps us get a good

18:51

view of the animals

18:53

for medical purposes as well as

18:56

training them things like their names.

18:58

So all of the pandas know their names and

19:01

when we call their names, they know that they should

19:03

come to us because usually it means

19:05

there's a tasty treat on the other end of

19:07

that. But Mei Chang here is

19:09

actually trained for a number of different

19:12

things. So she is trained to do what

19:14

we call maintenance behaviors, which are things

19:16

like stand up.

19:17

Good.

19:20

Move her paws around,

19:22

lay down, open her mouth

19:24

to show me her teeth.

19:26

But she's also trained for a lot of stuff

19:28

that makes her medical care a lot easier.

19:30

So she will lay down in our training cage and

19:32

receive ultrasound gel right on her belly

19:35

so that the vets are able to get a good ultrasound

19:38

of her to check and see if she's pregnant. And

19:40

then our pandas are also trained for things

19:43

like blood draws. So I don't know

19:45

about you, but I do not like having my

19:47

blood drawn. But the pandas don't

19:49

mind having their blood drawn at all.

19:51

And we actually have a little specialized port

19:54

that will reach their hand out and

19:56

hold on to a bar and they'll receive

19:59

honey water, which is one of their favorite treats

20:02

at IGG. And the

20:04

vets are able to draw their blood in a completely

20:06

stress-free manner. And then Meishan

20:09

has also been trained for things like

20:11

radiographs, so which are

20:13

x-rays, and things like cardiac

20:16

ultrasound, so we can also get a good ultrasound

20:18

of her heart and Tien Tien's heart, especially

20:21

as they

20:22

age.

20:23

So training is extremely important

20:26

at the zoo. They don't just do any back flips

20:28

or jump through hoops of fire, because

20:30

they are not circus animals, but they

20:33

do a lot of different behaviors that help in

20:35

their care and make both their life and

20:37

our life as their keepers much easier.

20:41

With training over, Marielle had time to answer

20:44

a few more questions. My name is Anna.

20:46

I'm six. I

20:48

live in Shelburne, Vermont, and

20:51

my question is, why are pandas black

20:53

and white?

20:54

Pandas being black and white is a really

20:56

good question, and it's something that is still

20:59

up for a little bit of debate. So

21:01

we don't have the 100% concrete

21:04

answer on that, but the reason that

21:06

we lean to them, most

21:08

likely being black and white, is actually for

21:10

camouflage. So where

21:12

the pandas live in the wild, it tends to be

21:14

snowy a lot of the year, so that white

21:17

fur camouflages them in the snow,

21:19

and then those black legs, arms, bands

21:22

on their backs, are actually

21:24

really good camouflage in the shadows of the bamboo.

21:27

So although pandas are large bears, the

21:30

cubs do have predators in the wild that

21:32

they have to hide from, such as snow leopards

21:35

or Asiatic black bear, so

21:38

that camouflage can help aid them when

21:40

mom is out foraging and making sure

21:42

that they are nice and safe. My

21:45

name is Hia, and

21:48

I am

21:49

nine years old, and

21:52

I live in Jerusalem

21:54

and Israel, and my

21:57

question is, why do pandas

21:59

live in Israel? Only can take care of

22:02

one baby and not of two like

22:04

most of the animals So

22:06

it really depends on the panda

22:09

So some pandas have had triplets

22:12

some pandas have had twins and some pandas

22:14

have had single cubs So it really

22:16

just depends on the individual and the

22:18

year. So sometimes It's

22:22

a little bit difficult for a mother panda

22:24

to raise two cubs Especially

22:26

if you have one cub that may be a little Weak

22:30

and sick then a lot of times mom

22:32

is going to take the larger

22:34

healthier cub and raise that one But

22:37

a great thing especially with pandas

22:39

that are in captivity and in the breeding centers

22:41

in China is that you're able

22:43

to Assist rear

22:45

those cubs So you're able to help her

22:48

by taking a baby and feeding it

22:50

some formula or actually what has been successful

22:54

In China to it has actually had surrogate

22:57

panda moms So if a female

22:59

is not able to take care of both cubs

23:01

The other cub can go over to a surrogate mom

23:04

for a little while But here at

23:06

the zoo Meishang has only

23:08

been able to figure out how to take care

23:10

of one cubs at a time Is

23:13

there a tendency toward

23:15

one cub or two cubs or probably

23:17

not three as often? So

23:19

triplets is definitely something that's a little

23:21

bit more rare But generally

23:24

we do see one or two cubs. It just

23:26

kind of depends on the year and the way the cards

23:28

kind of fall Hi, my

23:30

name is Vinnia. I'm four years

23:33

old. I Live in Bismond,

23:35

North Dakota and my question is how

23:37

can we save the pandas?

23:40

You can really help save the pandas by

23:42

educating people on giant pandas

23:45

But then something that you can actually do at

23:47

home that not only helps save pandas But

23:50

saves all of the animals around

23:52

you is by Volunteering

23:55

to help clean up streams or

23:57

sides of roads water ways things

23:59

that you do

23:59

here at home picking up litter, recycling,

24:03

all of that has an impact on the entire

24:06

world. So even though it may feel like

24:08

just picking up litter in your neighborhood

24:10

is just going to impact you

24:12

and the birds and the frogs and the chipmunks that

24:15

live in your neighborhood, when we do

24:17

things like that it impacts animals all

24:19

over the world.

24:22

They make eating a carrot sound so delicious.

24:28

I'm going to actually let them get back together.

24:30

Just watch your feet

24:32

until she reaches out. It was

24:34

time for me to leave.

24:35

I actually had to catch a plane back to Vermont

24:37

so I was rushing to the airport even though I

24:39

really wanted to stay at the zoo. But

24:42

before I left I wanted to know how Mariel

24:44

got such a cool job.

24:46

I grew up in the DC area

24:48

coming here to see Meisheng and Tien Tien

24:50

as a small child and then one day

24:53

got to work with them. I always

24:55

wanted to be a zookeeper but I never

24:57

thought in a million years that I would be working

24:59

with giant pandas. But when that opportunity

25:02

came up there was no turning it

25:04

down and it was something that

25:06

I was just a temporary keeper at the time. I did

25:09

not think I would land a permanent position

25:11

but I did and it has been

25:14

one of the best decisions I have ever made.

25:16

It's extremely rewarding working

25:18

with the pandas. Obviously there aren't

25:20

many pandas in the United States so there's not a

25:22

lot of people that can say, oh you

25:25

know I held a panda cub

25:27

or I did an ultrasound on a giant panda.

25:29

So it's definitely something that

25:32

is very rewarding and I never

25:34

ever thought I would be doing this. Did you

25:36

have to go to a special school to be trained to do

25:39

this? I just had to make

25:41

sure that I had some sort of biology

25:43

degree in college but the biggest thing

25:45

with becoming a zookeeper is gaining

25:48

experience. So that's through

25:50

volunteering and internships.

25:53

I was an intern at a couple of zoos

25:55

and a volunteer at a couple of zoos for about

25:58

two years before I actually I

26:00

got my first keeper job and

26:02

that was with the pandas and they've never been able

26:04

to get rid of me since. But

26:06

it's definitely a very specialized

26:08

and competitive field whether you want to work

26:11

with giant pandas or just any animal

26:13

in the zoo. Lots and lots and

26:15

lots of volunteering and interning.

26:18

The more experience you have, the better.

26:21

If you're interested in working with zoo animals,

26:23

like Mariel said, studying biology

26:25

is important. But it's also important

26:28

to learn more about animal care. That's

26:30

something you can work on now by taking care

26:32

of your own pets or maybe asking

26:35

a friend or a neighbor to teach you how to take care

26:37

of their pets. You could also look

26:39

at opportunities to get involved in a zoo

26:41

or aquarium or farm or maybe a

26:43

humane society near you. That's

26:46

it for this episode. Thanks to the Smithsonian

26:48

National Zoo, Mariel Lally and

26:50

Annalisa Meyer. We have links to

26:53

more information about the panda program in

26:55

our show notes. Now, if you have

26:57

a question about anything, have an adult

26:59

help you record it and then send it to us. You

27:02

can email the file to questions at

27:04

butwhykids.org. Remember

27:07

we can't answer all the questions we get, but we

27:09

do listen to them all and we really love

27:11

hearing from you and learning what you're curious

27:14

about. It helps us figure out what programs

27:16

to do next. But Why is

27:18

produced by Melody Baudet and me, Jane

27:20

Lindholm, at Vermont Public Radio. Our

27:23

theme music is by Luke Reynolds and we're distributed

27:25

by PRX. We'll be back

27:28

in two weeks with an all new episode. Until

27:30

then, stay curious.

27:50

If you're on the hunt for the perfect

27:52

holiday gift for the kids in your life this

27:54

season, don't forget, but Why

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readers or for kids. adults to read to younger

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You can find our books at your local bookstore

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or online, and you can learn more at

28:27

buttwykids.org. From

28:36

BRX.