GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The John Ball Zoo (JBZ) is asking for your help in naming two red panda cubs that were born at the zoo in July.
These cubs are from the second litter of JBZ resident red pandas, Wyatt and Wasabi.
To vote for the cubs' names, you'll need to make a donation of at least $1 to the zoo on their website. The contest runs now through Sunday, Nov. 19.
Donations from the voting contest will go toward JBZ's mission of preserving wildlife and wild places locally and around the world.
JBZ partnered with Refugee Education Center for the contest.
“We are so excited to get our community involved in the naming of our red panda cubs,” said Rhiannon Mulligan, education manager at JBZ. “These name options were carefully chosen alongside the Refugee Education Center to reflect the places and cultures where red pandas come from and to spread awareness of where we can continue having a positive impact on wildlife and wild places.”
JBZ says that the two red panda cubs are important to ensuring the species continues to thrive. They say that the global population of the species has declined by 50% over the last 20 years.
When voting in the contest, you can choose between three different names for each of the cubs.
The name options for the male cub include:
- Dawa (Da-wa, Bhutanese), meaning “moon”
- Kancha (Can-cha, Nepali), meaning “youngest member of the family”
- Karma (Car-ma, Bhutanese), meaning “star”
Name options for the female cub include:
- Nima (Nee-ma, Bhutanese), meaning “sun”
- Kanchi (Can-chi, Nepali), meaning “youngest member of the family”
- Pema (Pee-ma, Bhutanese), meaning “lotus flower”
Learn more about the red pandas and vote in the contest here.
Sadly, Panda-McPanda Face is not an option in the contest.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.