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Red Panda and Grevy's Zebra Receive Names

2/7/2009

Zoo Boise’s red panda cub now has a name. The 6 month old cub will be called Syringa. Zoo Boise, in conjunction with Serenity Retreat and Mix 106, recently ran a contest to find the cub a name. Nearly 500 names were received and the winning name was submitted by Dane, Reed and Lauren Adams of Boise. “We contemplated several possible names, including the Chinese word for beautiful. However, in the end, we felt that the name needed to represent something about our wonderful state. Syringa was a perfect fit, as it is the Idaho State Flower and it is also very beautiful, like the red panda. The red panda now can take a little piece of Idaho with her to her new home in Pennsylvania,” says Libby Adams, the children’s mother.

Syringa was born on July 3, 2008. Red panda cubs do not leave their den for the first few months of their lives. Zoo Boise’s red panda cub has only recently begun to appear on exhibit. Syringa is one of only twelve surviving cubs born in the United States in 2008. As part of the red panda Species Survival Program, the cub is scheduled to move to the Erie Zoo in Erie, PA sometime this spring.

In addition, Zoo Boise’s 2 year old female Grevy’s zebra has been given the name of Hope by students from Adams Elementary School. Adams students originally named Shingo, a giraffe that died Nov. 11 at the zoo. Hope is currently being introduced to the zoo’s other Grevy’s zebra, Wyatt. After their introduction is complete, the zebras will slowly be introduced to the giraffes, creating one large, multi-species exhibit.

The public can view the red pandas and zebras at Zoo Boise everyday from 10 am – 5 pm. A live feed of the red panda den is also available here. The red panda camera is courtesy of Serenity Retreat, Fiberpipe, iBeam Cameras and Darlene Gould.

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