Physical Distancing STEM Break with Ms. Meghan: Party with the Pandas

Hey everyone! How are we doing?

Did you know that your Galesburg Public Library card allows you to check out e-books and audio books through the Libby app? All you need is your library card and your PIN (your birth date in MMDDYYYY format) and you'll be on your way to reading on your phone or tablet!

I'll be pairing up Libby books for GPL patrons with STEM activities, live webcams, educational programs, and citizen science projects. Are we ready to

Party with the Pandas!

Giant pandas are only found in China. In 2016 they were upgraded from 'endangered' to 'vulnerable', thanks to decades of conservation efforts.

Read:

There are a number of books on pandas that you can borrow from Libby, including The Great Panda Tale by Laura Buller, ASTOUNDING! Asian Animals by Lisa Kurkov, and A Perfect Time for Pandas by Mary Pope Osborne.

Watch:
All the giant pandas in the world belong to China, and only a few zoos in the United States have them. The National Zoo in Washington D.C. and the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee have webcams set up so you can watch the pandas in their habitats. The pandas may not be visible all the time, and may not be outside depending on the weather. The San Diego Zoo in California sent their pandas back to China last year, but you can watch archived footage here (and be guaranteed to see some panda cuteness).

Observe:
Even though they're bears, giant pandas eat bamboo, a type of grass, almost exclusively. It's not very nutritious, so they have to eat a lot of it. They also sleep a lot, since it doesn't provide them with much energy. Can you be a panda researcher and figure out what a panda does with its day? Write 'eat', 'sleep','walk', 'play', and 'other' on a piece of paper, with space next to each word to make marks. Find a panda on one of the panda cams. Have an adult help you set a timer for 20 seconds, or count 20 Mississippi's. Every 20 seconds, mark down what your panda is doing, right at that moment. Pretty soon, you should start to get an idea of how pandas spend their day. Congratulations! You just made an ethogram! Ethograms help biologists and animal keepers learn about animal behaviors.
You can also watch your pets at home, to see how they spend their time.