The Toronto Zoo on Tuesday officially unveiled the name of a red panda cub after receiving over 6,500 community votes.
The five-month-old red panda was named “Poppy” — the most popular name choice out of five floral-themed pitches in honour of the cub’s mother, Sakura.
Zookeepers celebrated the naming by filling the cub’s enclosure with toys, vegetation to munch on and two hand-painted cardboard boxes bearing the name “Poppy.” Before receiving her official name, Poppy had affectionately been called “Biggie” by her caretakers and admirers.
The zoo uploaded a video of Poppy to social media where she is seen crawling in and out of the cardboard boxes. Fans of the organization praised the animal’s new name and mourned the cub’s mother Sakura, who died in August.
Sakura was 10 years old when she died two months after her cubs were born at the Toronto Zoo on June 13.
The zoo said Sakura was already pregnant and considered “geriatric” when she arrived at its facility early this year. Initial reports said Sakura died of a cardiac arrest but had many underlying health conditions.
Poppy’s sibling also died three weeks ahead of Sakura, six weeks after being born. Zookeepers said the male cub was the runt and “had no fat reserve.” He also experienced lung and intestinal issues ahead of his death.
In a press release from August, the Toronto Zoo said “the first few months of red panda cubs’ lives are a critical period, which highlights how fragile this species is whether under human care or in the wild.”
Red panda offspring have low rates of survival, with an estimated 40 per cent of cubs reaching their first birthday, both in captivity and the wild, according to the Toronto Zoo.
As of now, Poppy is in good health.
The zoo said Poppy “will start exploring smaller areas of her outdoor habitat over the coming weeks,” though not all areas of her enclosure are visible to the public.
“She’ll have the choice and control to spend time indoors or outdoors as she becomes more comfortable in her new surroundings,” the organization said of Poppy’s housing.
Red pandas are an endangered species. There are believed to be fewer than 10,000 red pandas remaining, with under 2,500 in the wild. Deforestation and poaching in the red panda’s natural territory of the Eastern Himalayas has greatly influenced the population decline.
