Red Panda at Lake Superior Zoo Gets a New Roommate

DULUTH, Minn.– The beloved red panda ‘Zoozee’ at the Lake Superior Zoo, just got a new roommate.

‘Wiley’ a male red panda was born on June 19th, 2024, at the Potter Park Zoo, in Michigan.

He arrived in Duluth on July 2nd. The zoo waited a little while to announce his arrival to make sure he was comfortable and settled.

Having Wiley join his new roommate is beneficial for many reasons.

“We do want to be a part of these species survival plans as much as we can. And Wiley was a match to come here hang out with Zoozee, kind of be a friend. We do want to eventually do breeding here in the future. As of right now, there’s nothing set up for the two of them to breed, but hopefully in the future, we could have baby pandas,” explained Jessica Krestch, a Zookeeper at Lake Superior Zoo.

Despite red pandas being solitary creatures in the wild, so far, the pair has gotten along just fine.

Even with being new to the zoo, Wiley’s personality has begun to come out.

“Wiley, he’s gotten, he’s super friendly. He’s still kind of a baby right now too. So, he’ll like, come down, kind of be hanging out. He’s like, ‘do you have anything for me? Do you have any snacks?’ And he’ll kind of hang around a little bit longer than Zoozee will,” beamed Krestch.

Besides training sessions and getting used to his new home, Wiley and Zoozee love to lounge around, taking it all in, and enjoying their favorite snack, grapes.