Su Lin: The Famous Panda Immigrant

7-month old Giant Panda. All the things you want to know...

       Su Lin was the very first giant panda ever brought out of China alive. Since no one knew just what to do for a baby giant panda, he was given about the same kind of care as a human baby. He was fed milk from a baby bottle every four hours (later baby-food cereals, strained vegetables, and vitamins were added), he was kept in a playpen, he took rides in a baby buggy, he wore diapers, he was visited by a regular baby doctor when he had a tummy ache, and a registered nurse supervised his daily routine in Brookfield Zoo, near Chicago.

       Mrs. William H. Harkness found the baby panda in the bamboo forest of the mountains in Szechwan Province, China, when he was about six weeks old. She named him Su Lin, Chinese for little bit of something very cute. A Chinese lady, Su Lin Young, had helped Mrs. Harkness plan her expedition, and so the name both fitted the baby and honored Mrs. Young. Mrs. Harkness kept her prize for more than five months, but she knew that the panda would soon outgrow her New York City apartment. Wild animals usually do better in a zoo with facilities for their care than cramped in a private home. On February 8, 1937, she took Su Lin to Brookfield Zoo. He was only six months old and was still being fed six or eight times a day (whenever he seemed hungry). He lived at the zoo in a room next to the first-aid station and was never left alone.

       Su Lin was not put on public display until nice weather in March. He lived at Brookfield Zoo until April, 1938. When he died, Su Lin's body was taken to Chicago Natural History Museum for scientific study. 

       Most of our knowledge of pandas is based on studies of pandas like Su Lin. By the time they are a year old, pandas are no longer playful but become sedate, quiet animals. A panda in its prime weighs about 250 pounds. Grown pandas are too large to cuddle and do not like to be petted. They are likely to bite or scratch anyone who tries.

       Most animals like companionship of some sort, but pandas are solitary and uninterested in any other animals, even other pandas. Zoos have tried to keep bear cubs with them, but the pandas would not play with the cubs and only became annoyed when the cubs tried to be friendly. Brookfield Zoo had best results with feeding pandas three meals a day at one time. These meals consisted mainly of fresh vegetables and some fresh fruits. Occasionally canned salmon or canned dog-food was added for variety.

       Pandas make several distinct sounds. They bark when frightened or angry and whinny like a pony when they are pleased. Baby pandas whimper or fret and cry quite like human babies. They also frequently talk in their sleep.

       The panda has five toes on each foot, and it also has an extra 'thumb' growing from the base of the first toe. This extra thumb makes it possible for wild pandas to handle the slender bamboo stalks that abound in their mountains. Until Su Lin came to Brookfield Zoo, people thought that pandas live entirely on bamboo, but this is certainly not true of zoo pandas and probably not true of wild ones either. Su Lin did not particularly care for the fresh bamboo flown in especially for him.

       Pandas do not seem to have very good eyesight, although they may see better at night when they are more active than in the daylight, Mrs. Harkness did not think Su Lin could see or hear anything the first few weeks she had him. But wild pandas do not have any enemies and do not prey on other animals, and so keen senses are not necessary.

       Su Lin was one of the world's most famous individuals. He had countless visitors in the zoo. Some people made special trips from distant places such as Australia, New Zealand, and even China to see him. He died of pneumonia in 1938. Worsham.

The story of Su Lin from YouAndMeThisMorning.

and 

Old footage of 1930s Panda named, Mei Mei