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You're welcome; we did the watching for you
The National Zoo's "Pandacam," which records every second in the life of its little pride and joy, has distracted millions from whatever they should be doing.
By RODNEY THRASH
Published December 19, 2005
Now we know why productivity at work is on the decline.
It isn't e-mail. It isn't even Internet porn. It's a darn baby panda with a hard-to-pronounce name.
According to the National Zoo in Washington, where the cub was born July 9, more than 7-million of you - yes, 7-million - have logged on to the zoo's Web page to watch Tai Shan do what your own babies do at home: eat, sleep and, well, we won't go there.
* * *
10:49 a.m. - We log on to the Web page, nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas, to see what the big fuss is about.
10:50 - Editor yells, "We have movement!" Tai Shaneats bamboo and falls asleep in his cage. Bars and a plain slab for naptime suggest a dismal Sing Sing motif.
10:54 - Mei Xiang, the cub's mother, hovers over her sleeping son. Truck engines and male voices roar in the background.
10:57 - Mei Xiang leaves Tai Shan in his cage. She moves to a more attractive area adorned with tree branches, lime-colored rocks and bamboo. She has brunch as she sits against the rock.
11:06 - We're booted off. "Our cams are at maximum capacity," the Panda Cam message box says. (There's a 15-minute limit per viewing, though we're granted an extra two minutes.)
Noon - Tai Shan scratches self.
12:06 p.m. - Tai Shan snores - loudly.
1:00 - Tai Shan becomes fidgety. He scratches his head. He curls up in the fetal position, as if he knows someone (that would be you) is gawking at him.
1:17 - We're booted off again.
2:18 - There's an overhead shot of Tai Shan lying down. "He looks like a dead Oreo," a colleague says. "Who killed the panda?"
3:20 - Tai Shan and his mother enjoy a late lunch that lasts a half-hour.
4:00 - Tai Shan didn't get enough to eat. Back in his cage, he feasts on more bamboo.
4:09 - There's a lot of rustling. Tai Shan tries to push his body between the cage's metal bars. He finds an opening and rolls to the other side of the cage.
4:47 - Tai Shan is napping.
5:00 - And napping.
5:14 - We nod off ourselves.
5:25 - He's still napping. Editor asks, "So has the panda (insert your own term here for "gone to the potty') yet?" Only a few seconds earlier, Mei Xiang relieved herself. The camera zoomed in for a closeup.
6:08 - Mei Xiang, who has been eating most of the day, is so full, she passes out next to her son.
6:39 - Mei Xiang and Tai Shan wake up, briefly. They roll around the cage until they are too tired to move. You know what happens next. They sleep.
- Rodney Thrash can be reached at 727 893-8352 or rthrash@sptimes.com
[Last modified December 16, 2005, 11:41:04]
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