Hi everyone,

Well I am having an amazing time over here working at the Schonbrunn Tiergarten (Vienna Zoo)! I have had two days so far and enjoying it a lot. It has snowed for both those days which makes everything so beautiful. It is not hard to make anything beautiful over here as it is the oldest zoo in the world, founded in 1752. The buildings are beautiful! It also has a nice mix of old and new now a days.

The pandas are lovely too! Long Hui, the male is a gorgeous relaxed male...takes everything in his stride. Yang Yang the female is really sweet as well and they both have their own quirks just like Wang Wang and Fu Ni! Panda are such wonderful animals as they are all so different.

The highlight has definitely been meeting the beautiful Fu Hu, the latest cub to be born at the zoo. He was born on Fu Ni's birthday last year....making him just over 5 months old now. He is just adorable! I am almost speechless when thinking of him (hard when trying to write a blog!)

He is very confident and is now starting to come out of his den for a play, when the keepers are cleaning in the morning. He is at the age now where Yang Yang is more than happy to leave him for a few hours and go outside to eat. He weighs two kg more than Fu Long, their first born, did when he was the same age which really shows how individual they can be.

Eveline has been wonderful, showing me around and even allowing me to see some other animals training procedures such as the orangutans. It has been great to see everything that goes on over here. The training they do with the pandas is quite similar to what we do, as is the general routine.

Will write again soon,

Simone
Senior Panda Keeper, Adelaide Zoo