Panda News from around the world
  • Yong Ba Passes Away

    I am very sad to report that Yong Ba has passed away at 11am on the 4th December.

    Yong Ba is thought to of been born in 1983, She has given birth to 11 Cubs with 10 of them surviving include one of my "little girls" Jin Zhu who I looked after briefly in 2008.

    She was captured on 26th September 1992 in Baoxing and has travelled around China to different zoos and parks.
  • The Edinburgh Pandas Have Been Confirmed.

    I have just received an official notification from the Edinburgh Zoo, stating that Tian Tian and Yuan Guang will be arriving this Sunday, 4th December 2011.

    Press Release:-

    NEWS RELEASE

    The Pandas Are Coming!

    UK Arrival Date for Giant Pandas Officially Confirmed
    as Sunday 4 December

    Following months of global anticipation and excitement, the arrival date for Scotland’s first pair of breeding giant pandas has been confirmed as Sunday 4 December.
  • Edinburgh Pandas Get Their Own Tartan

    Yang Guan and Tian Tian the two pandas who will be arriving at Edinburgh Zoo any time now, have been given their own Scottish Tartan.

    The Scottish tartan goes back hundreds of years as a way of identify members of a clan. The new panda Tartan is primarily made up of black and white the colours of the panda with some gray to soften it, there is also red which symbolizes China, and green to represent bamboo the pandas main food source.
  • My Adopted Son An Di

    A good panda friend of mine Chet Chin, recently visited, Bifeng Xia and asked the keepers there to point out Mei Qing's Son to her, then moved him slightly from the rest of the group and she took some photos of him. I thought you might want to see how he's grown.

    Many thanks to Chet for thinking of me and going to the trouble of taking a photo of him.
  • Zhang Ka Gives Birth to Twins in the Wolong Semi Wild Centre

    Another success for the Wolong semi wild team, Zhang Ka an 11 year old wild born Giant Panda has given birth to twins. The second cub was a girl and weighed 137.4g at birth. The second cub was removed because Giant Panda mothers can only raise one cub at a time and the second is usually left to die.

    She was mated with Bai Yang on May 26th 2011.

    Mother and cubs doing well.
  • Qing He at Chengdu Gives Birth

    On the 4th August 2011, Qing He at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, gave birth to a healthy male Panda cub.
  • Qi Zhen at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding Gives Birth to Twins

    Qi Zhen a 12 year old Giant Panda gave birth to twins on the 4th of August 2011.

    The first was born at 8:07 am local time who is a female weighing 152g and the second a male born at 10:26 am with a birth weight of 122g.

    These are the first twins born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding this year.

    Both mum and siblings are doing well.

    Well done Qi Zhen, and all the staff at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

    It appears we are well and truly in to panda birth season.

    I look forward to bringing more updates of panda births.
  • Mao Mao Gives Birth at Chengdu

    At 5:07 am local time Mao Mao the giant panda who was used for the basis of the 2008 Olympic Mascot Jing Jing gave birth to a 170g Giant Panda Cub.

    Mao Mao gave birth to twins in 2008 and had difficulty in nursing the cubs, this time she has shown good parenting skills.

    With this birth the total number of Giant Pandas at the Chengdu Panda Research Centre to 98.

    Well done to Mao Mao and all the staff at Chengdu Panda Research Centre.
  • Photos of Atlanta's Returned Panda Mei Lan In Chungdu

    Panda House the blog of Chengdu's Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding have released some new photos of Mei Lan, the Giant Panda who was born in Atlanta USA and now lives in Chengdu. There's alot of photos here, but head over to the reference link to see even more.

    The site is in Chinese, just enjoy the photos.

    She has became one beautiful young panda lady.
  • Photos of my Adopted Panda Son

    I've received some new photos of my adopted son 'An Di'.

    He's almost 11 months old and is getting quite big now.
  • Two More Cubs For Wolong Wild Training Centre

    Xi Xi or Qian Qian has given birth to twins at the wild training base in Sichuan, China.

    Xi Xi was born in 1998, and is a 'hero' mother with these cubs bringing the total to 6.

    The first cub was born at 6:55 in the morning and the second was born at 8:04. The staff removed a female cub, as Giant Panda mothers do not usually bring up 2 cubs in the wild and she would of likely of been left to die.
  • Su Lin Provides First Cub of 2011

    At 12:36 Local time on July the 7th 2011 Su Lin (Born at San Diego Zoo), gave birth to the first cub of the year.

    When the Cub was first born, Su Lin was a bit surprised but after a few minutes a strong maternal instinct took over and Su Lin began to mother the new cub.

    At 13:12 another cub was born but this was an underdeveloped fetus and soon died. The keepers immediately took away this cub.

    Su Lin and Cub are both being watched very carefully by staff via CCTV cameras.

    Well done Su Lin, and congratulations to the hard working staff of CCRCGP at Wolong.
  • Su Lin Moves to New Home

    The Wolong Panda Park Blog has released some photos of when they transfered Su Lin to the semi wild enclosure near to Wolong.

    Su Lin along with 5 other pandas who were bred this year have been release in to semi wild enclosures. These enclosures are a lot bigger than the ones at Bi Feng Xia and the pandas will not interact with humans.

    It is hoped that the pregnant Giant Pandas will give birth and bring up their cubs in a more natural way. This is one of the first steps of many of being able to release Giant Pandas back in to the wild.
  • Wild Pandas Still In Danger of Starvation

    It is almost three years since the devastating earthquake hit China on May 12th 2008. Soon afterwards was the rainy season which caused massive mudslides, covering large areas of bamboo in think layers of mud. In some places these bamboo forest are still to recover.

    The effect of this means that our favourite animal is having a hard time in the wild, this was brought to light in April when two wild pandas were rescued with extreme starvation, and without the help of the villagers who raised the alarm and the quick response of experts from Bifeng Xia would surely of died.
  • Fewer Pandas to be Born This Year.

    In 1997 a study concluded that a total of 300 captive Giant Pandas were needed to create a self sustaining population.

    Last year when a total of 32 surviving panda cubs born this target was breached.

    Whilst this is a massive success to the pandas and the panda experts, it was achieved at the risk of inbreeding, as most captive born pandas are descended from only 4 pandas.
  • Wolong Pandas on Schedule to Return Home Next Year

    When a 7.8 earthquake struck China On May the 8th 2008, it caused wild spread destruction to people and buildings. It also killed two captive pandas (Mao Mao killed in her enclosure under a falling wall, and Xiao Xiao escaped and is presumed dead).

    Of the remaining 61 Pandas there were at Wolong on the day all but seven were transferred to other centres with a large number going to Bifeng Xia (Where I spent my time volunteering in Septemeber 2008).
  • Alison MacLean Meets Her New Charges.

    Alison MacLean and two other keepers from Edinburgh Zoo have made their first visit to China to receive training on looking after Giant Pandas.

    She said: “It’s a real honour. I’m extremely excited to be working so closely with these precious bears.”

    "The training is very similar to how we work with the bears currently at Edinburgh Zoo and I find it essential in caring for such animals. It enables us to work closely and safely with the bears and means we can spot any physical changes quickly."
  • A Video of my Adopted Son An di

    One of my Panda friends (Annette Yuen) visited BFX recently and took some photos and video of my adopted son for me. She's allowed me to share the video with you, he's so adorable I'm a proud Panda Father.
  • The 2010 Bifengxia Giant Panda Cubs

    On the 19th November 2010 the CCRCGP at Bifengxia hold a double ceremony to show the 16 Giant Panda cubs born there in 2010 and the re-opening of old Leopard Mountain which is now to be known as the panda returnees paradise park.

    The new park contains a set of 3 pens containing 7 villas which can accommodate more than 10 sub-adults. This is where Zhen Zhen and Sulin were moved to as mentioned in a previous post.

    When I was there, there was only 2 pens, so I'm assuming that another one has been built. I will try to get some more information about this.
  • Giant Pandas Zhen Zhen and Su Lin Move Home

    Returnees Zhen Zhen and Su Lin born at San Diego Zoo, America have moved homes, they are now at Leopard Mountain at Bifengxia Panda Research Centre.

    They share the area with Fu Long, Mei Sheng and of course Tai Shan. It's a beautiful area of the base, I spent 3 weeks there when I volunteered.