San Diego Zoo's baby panda named
The San Diego Zoo’s baby panda got a special present for her 100-day birthday: a name.
Zoo officials today announced that the cub will be called Su Lin. The name - one of five that people voted on through an online poll – means “a little bit of something very cute” in Chinese, according to the zoo.
Su Lin, which got 44% of the more than 70,000 votes cast, also was the name of the first giant panda brought to the United States in 1936.
The five names were submitted by the zoo’s Giant Panda Team and approved by the People’s Republic of China, which owns Su Lin and her parents, Bai Yun, the zoo’s adult female, and Gao, the adult male.
The zoo followed a Chinese tradition by waiting 100 days after the cub’s birth to name her.
The second-place name with 35% of the vote was Bao Bei, which means “precious, priceless, treasure.”
Su Lin still has trouble standing and has not yet left her den. The 10-pound ball of fur can be seen by the public on the zoo’s Panda Cam.
Zoo officials said she’ll emerge from the den when she masters walking and when her mother is ready.
“We have the hope that it will be before Christmas,” said Don Lindburg, the zoo’s panda team leader.
Su Lin is the third panda born at the Balboa Park zoo. Her brother, Mei Sheng, which means “Born in the USA,” remains there.
The zoo’s first cub, Hua Mei, which means “China USA,” has since returned to China and became a mother.
