Panda News from around the world
We've had a hit on the site from people looking for where they can see pandas in zoo's. So I'm going to try put together a list. I need your help to compile this list. Please add any pandas not in the list in the comments then I'll update the list. Please provide a link if you can. You can also email me at pandanews@pandagrove.co.uk
Update, Thanks to Ivan Lucas for finding some more information for me.
Australia
Yes Panda News is One today.
What a year it's been, lots of panda cubs born after the horrific earthquake on may 12th.
More and more zoos are trying to obtain pandas and help in their breeding.
My wonderful trip to Bifengxia where I got to look after pandas and see them close hand.
In the coming year there are lots of pandas who were mated in May, and will shortly be due to give birth. Will it be a record year?
Now a little bit of a sneak peak at the new Panda News site.
Thailand's new giant panda cub will be on display for two shows a day from the 4th till the 6th of July. The cub will be in a glass display, Visitors lucky enough to get in are asked not to touch any animals before coming as they could spread disease.
If you're planning to visit Thailand to go see the new Giant Panda Club and haven't already got a ticket to see them, then you may be in for a bit of a wait, till January next year.
65,000 advanced tickets for this year have already been snapped up. People sometimes pre-book to see various animals before visiting but never on this scale it has been reported.
So you'd better get your ticket soon else it could be a very very long time before you can see her.
The Austrian Times has released a story that Fu Long (Lucky Dragon) of Vienna's Schönbrunn zoo Giant Panda Cub will be staying a little longer than first thought. Under the terms of the contract between the zoo and China, Fu Long was due to be returned on his 2nd birthday, after raising concerns with Fu Long's health if he is moved in the summer China has agreed that he can stay a little longer to a more suitable time to allow his to adjust.
A new field research centre for reintroducing the captive bred giant pandas back in to the wild, will begin construction by the end of the month.
The new research centre will be built in Majiagou, Yutang town. The centre has been designed with help from experts in exhibit design and tourism from the University of Queensland, Australia.
Currently no information is available on when the project is due to finish.
Chiang Mai Zoo has built a new winter home for their pandas "Chuang Chuang" , "Lin Hui" and her newly born cub. The new home is a snow dome where the temperature inside will be a cool minus 5 degrees Celcius.
The pandas are not due to move in till the winter, but visitors should be able to visit from some time this month.
Visitors will enter along a wall built to look like the great wall of china, and inside will be a Chinese-style house.
The only thing left to finish on the new enclosure is the fake snow.
Chuang Chuang the male panda who is the father of the new panda cub born in Thailand this year, will have his semen frozen and taken over to China and be artificially inseminated in to female pandas next year.
A video of the new panda cub at Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand being examined by the vets there.
The wonderful people at Pandas International have sent some camera equipment over to the panda club. They hope that they can be of use in monitoring and recording when pandas are giving birth.
Pandas International provide lots of items for the pandas including incubators and panda milk. After the earthquake they also supplied emergency equipment for both pandas and humans.
Pandas International is currently running a Pennies 4 Pandas drive, why not head over and make a small donation to help protect our wonderful friends the pandas.
When Wang wang arrives in October at Adelaide Zoo with his panda pal Funi, he will have a 13m high English Oak to climb.
The tree from Victoria weighing between 15 and 20 tonnes and a root ball of 3x3 meters has been moved to his enclosure especially for him to climb. The move involved an oversized flat-bed truck and an 80-tonne crane.
Plans are also being made to provide Funi with her own climbing frame.