Summary

  • In April 2010, the Zoo announced five-minute public Panda Cam sessions, with a browser refresh required to return and possible delays during heavy traffic.
  • The 2012–2013 upgrade connected easier viewing on newer devices with camera operations and plans for continuous behavioral recordings.

Mei Xiang had been shredding bamboo to make a nest. Watching her required patience; the website was about to ration it. In an announcement dated 27 April 2010, Smithsonian's National Zoo told Panda Cam viewers they would get five minutes per session. Then they had to refresh the browser. They might return immediately, or be asked to try later if traffic was too heavy. The panda's day continued. The audience's appointment expired.

The rule accompanied a round-the-clock pregnancy watch. More than 40 volunteers from Friends of the National Zoo and animal-care staff would follow Mei Xiang through keeper interactions and 38 cameras around the habitat. Trained volunteers recorded behaviors such as nest-building and cradling small objects. Their observation work included continuous logging and entries at five-minute intervals.

Those were two uses of five minutes. For a member of the public, it was the length of a visit. For the observation team, it could be a recording interval within continuing work. Behind the appealing animal picture sat people learning what to notice and how to write it down.

A camera show with a second job

By September 2012, the Zoo was describing an aging analog camera system that did not work with many newer devices. Part of a donation from Ford Motor Company Fund would help begin its replacement. The plan covered 48 cameras, starting indoors and moving to outdoor cameras and the monitoring station.

The proposed networked system would record continuously, allowing behavioral research to continue when researchers were away from the habitat. It would also let the public watch on devices capable of streaming web video. One upgrade had to serve the person hoping to see a panda and the person responsible for keeping a useful observation record.

The public cameras went dark on 30 May 2013 for the work. On 22 July, the Zoo announced their return at noon. Viewers could now watch uninterrupted video on computers, tablets and mobile devices without repeatedly refreshing the page. Mei Xiang's den had high-definition cameras; the monitoring station had larger flat-screen displays. The panda team continued using the cameras for behavioral research and remote observation.

That small pleasure—being able to leave a panda picture running—had a substantial working life behind it. Cameras needed replacing, volunteers needed training, and observations needed somewhere to persist. An audience could enjoy the stream casually because other people were treating the operation seriously. By July 2013, the browser could finally show a little more patience.