Mei Lan has been announced as an Earth Hour Global Ambassador.
Former Zoo Atlanta panda princess Mei Lan has been in China barely a week and has already been appointed a “global ambassador” for Earth Hour 2010, a four-year-old event led by the World Wildlife Fund to fight climate change. The organization says global warming is one of the greatest threats facing wildlife and nature.
Mei Lan’s new hometown, Chengdu, was the first city in China to commit its support to the March 27 event. At 8:30 p.m. local time, people around the world will turn off their lights for one hour to symbolically demand action on climate change. Last year in the U.S., 80 million Americans, 318 cities and eight states officially turned off their lights for Earth Hour, including Atlanta. The Pyramids in Egypt and even the Las Vegas strip went dark.
Mei Lan joins Desmond Tutu, Cold Play and Cate Blanchett in becoming an Earth Hour ambassador. Fans will be able to follow her ambassador role at www.twitter.com/earthhour. The recognized symbol of WWF, giant pandas have lived in Chengdu for more than 8 million years.
Meanwhile, Mei Lan is dealing with more prosaic concerns as she continues to adjust to her new home at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. On Thursday, Zoo Atlanta reported that Mei Lan spent more time resting. She is drinking regularly and eating bamboo, but not as much bamboo as she did at Zoo Atlanta. Giant pandas can be very finicky about their bamboo, and the type of bamboo near the Chengdu Research Base is different from the species that was available in Atlanta, the zoo said.
Zoo officials expect it will take her about a month to get used to the new bamboo. So far, her new keeper has offered Mei Lan at least five different species of bamboo. “Mei Lan liked one of these better than the others, but so far she doesn’t have a clear favorite,” the zoo said.
Mei Lan’s Atlanta keeper, Heather Roberts, has decided to stay a little longer to help Mei Lan continue to adjust to her new home. We hope she’s ready to tackle global warming.