No, he's not blushing from all the attention. Mao Mi is a Red Panda and the newest addition to Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn. He arrived last week from Michigan's Binder Park Zoo as part of a Wildlife Conservation Society breeding project. Red Pandas are an endangered species with fewer than 2,500 adults thought to remain in the wild in Bhutan, China, India, Laos, Nepal and Burma.
Mao Mi will probably be mated with this young lady, who has been residing at the zoo since at least last year. If Brooklyn is lucky it could see its own Red Panda birth in the near future.
Also at the Prospect Park Zoo: a celebration next weekend of 2008 being a Leap Year. "Celebrate the Year of the Frog during Leap Day weekend, February 29 through March 2. Hop along a scavenger hunt trail, make your own frog mask, and chat with a zookeeper about our colorful collection of poison dart and smoky jungle frogs." The zoo knows it's the Year of the Rat on the Chinese calendar, but the Wildlife Conservation Society is celebrating frogs and other amphibians to highlight their precarious natural position and endangerment.
