ENDANGERED SPECIES "TAKIN" IN DIGS AT SAN DIEGO ZOO'S PANDA TREK

Visitors to the San Diego Zoo on Tuesday were surprised with a special treat: views of seven Sichuan takins balancing on rocks and a red panda climbing trees during the opening of the new Panda Trek exhibit.

     The takins, including 1-month-old Duli, followed the sounds of a cow bell down a hillside into their new home. These shaggy animals, which look half goat and half antelope, were trained by Conny Carson, senior keeper, to shift from one yard to another using a bell. She applied this training to lead the herd - with the help of biscuits - through a tunnel, a hillside habitat and finally into one of two yards designed especially for them.

     The ¾-acre Panda Trek was constructed in what was previously a space that housed a trailer with office space. The $2 million project created new living space that mimics China's bamboo forest for the takin, red panda and Mang Mountain pit viper. Meandering past these animals, as well as eight species of bamboo, visitors can learn more about the diversity of plants and animals found within the giant panda's forest home before reaching the black-and-white bear.

     The takin depends on the same mountainous habitat as the giant panda and is also considered a national treasure in the People's Republic of China. The takin habitat in Panda Trek includes hillsides that mimic its natural environment, giving the animals places to climb and jump as Duli, the young calf, did on Tuesday.

     The San Diego Zoo received a small group of takins in 1987 and 1988. Duli, the young female calf, is the 51st takin born at the Zoo since 1989, when the Zoo celebrated the first Sichuan takin birth outside of China. Within China, the takin has been given full protection under its laws and two reserves have been created for their protection.

     The giant panda also shares its native habitat with the red panda. Like the giant panda, the red panda's diet consists mostly of bamboo, however, the red panda also eats fruit, roots, acorns and eggs. Both are classified as carnivores. The first red panda arrived at the San Diego Zoo in 1940, and in 1941 the first red panda was born. The Zoo will continue its participation in the Species Survival Plan breeding program when a male red panda joins the Zoo's female, Lily, later this year. The Zoo also contributes financially to red panda conservation programs.

     Panda Trek will also be home in the near future to another special Chinese animal most zoogoers do not see: the Mang Mountain pit viper. This snake's vibrant green-and-brown markings give it camouflage in the forest vegetation.