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Alas, new San Diego zoo panda won't get a name like "Britney"
By Larry Knowles
October 17, 2005
San Diego--The new San Diego Zoo panda cub will not be named Britney…or Mariah, or Beyoncé. Instead, the name will be chosen from a list of five Chinese names suggested by the San Diego Zoo Giant Panda team and approved by the Chinese government.
The baby female panda, which was born on August 2nd, is the offspring of mother Bai Yun and father Gao Gao, both of whom are on loan from China. As part of an agreement between The San Diego Zoo and China, any offspring of the pandas also belongs to China.
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The unnamed cub gets a recent checkup by San Diego Zoo panda keepers (Photos courtesy San Diego Zoo) |
According to Chinese tradition, newborn pandas are not named until they reach the 100-day mark. That would mean that the San Diego Zoo’s panda would get a name on November 10, 2005.
While it’s unclear whether the Chinese government actually requires foreign zoos to give Chinese names to newborn pandas, zoos in the United States nonetheless feel obliged to do so. |
“It’s important that we keep good relations with the Chinese government,” said Kathy Hawk, Senior Giant Panda Keeper at the San Diego Zoo. She explained that the zoo’s Director of Panda Research, Dr. Don Lindburg, typically e-mails Chinese officials and says, ‘What do you think?’
When asked how the Chinese would respond to a proposal that the new panda be given a Western name, such as Britney, Hawk answered that the scenario was unlikely. “Unless there were a major donor, animals will be named after the country they’re indigenous to.”
“Most zoological institutions are trending to more traditional names,” she added.
Yadira Galindo, a spokesperson for the San Diego Zoo, stated via e-mail, “Today, when we give an animal born at the Zoo and Wild Animal Park a name, the name is typically a word in the language of its origin. For example, we have an African cheetah named Majani, which means grasslands in Swahili.”
“Even if China did not have to approve the name, a panda would likely still have a Chinese name,” she added.
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The cub awaits a name |
At the National Zoo, in Washington D.C., also has a newborn cub and its name, Tai Shan, or “Peaceful Mountain,” was revealed today. The panda naming process at the National Zoo resembles that at the San Diego Zoo. Both zoos e-mail the Chinese government with suggested names and work with the government to come up with five finalists. |
While the Giant Panda team at the San Diego Zoo supplied all five names for their final list, the National Zoo came up with only three for theirs. The other two names were proposed by the China Wildlife Conservation Association, or CWCA.
According to Matt Olear, Friends of the National Zoo spokesperson, the two Chinese suggestions follow a familiar naming pattern. “The Chinese want to honor the partnership between the U.S. and China,” he stated. The two proposed names, Hua Sheng and Sheng Hua, translate to “Washington China” and “China Washington.”
The National Zoo’s three suggestions were intended to honor “panda history.” One name, Tai Shun, means “Peaceful Mountain.
When asked how the Chinese would react if the National Zoo were to suggest the name Britney, Olear answered, “I doubt highly that that would ever happen….I think people pretty much know that that would never fly.”
For the first time, the public was allowed to vote on the final five names at both the San Diego Zoo and National Zoo. In voting that lasted between August 24th and September 30th, the National Zoo received more than 202,000 votes.
The public can vote on the panda’s name via the San Diego Zoo’s web site until October 31st. On the list, you’ll see Bao Bei,…but no Beyoncé.
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Larry Knowles is the editor of Vyuz San Diego. He can be reached at lgkiii@vyuz.com.
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