Panda News from around the world
Pictures Copyright Central News Agency 2009
Visitors to Taipei zoo are being urged not to use flashes when taking photos of the pandas to avoid scaring the 2 beautiful creatures.
The zoo director Jason Yeh has said "We'll continue a publicity campaign to advise visitors not to use camera flashes when they take pictures of the pandas or even of other animals in the zoo so as not to scare or disturb them."
On Saturday January 24th the president of Taiwan and 500 school children got a viewing of the infamous pandas, a couple of days before they were due to go on public display Monday (26th).
It is expected that 22,000 people a day will pour through their glass house to view the pair.
Glad I'm not them.
The wonderful post over on the San Diego Blog talks about the wonderful day that Gao Gao had to celebrate his un-birthday. He enjoyed a wonderful ice cake packed with his favourite fruit and covered in honey, and of course there was plenty of bamboo for him to eat.
I think that the keepers and visitors enjoyed the day even more than Goa Goa watching him get stuck in with the cake.
It was also my birthday and I want to thank all of you that sent well wishes to me. It made me feel good and that spured me on to continue with the reporting as you seem to enjoy what I write.
13 Panda cubs born in 2008 at the Chengdu Research Centre will go on public display for the first time during the 2009 Spring Festival.
They have been kept in special nurseries since they have been born but it is now time for them to start leaving their mums and live lives of their own.
After the devastating earth quake on May 12th 2008. Ms. Cheng Qing who adopted Qing Qing soon after set up the "Qing Qing Foundation" which provides 10,000 RMB worth of awards each year to keepers for their work and dedication to pandas.
After years of trying to get Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui of Chiang Mai Zoo, Thailand to mate. It's been reported that a cold snap has aroused the passion in the Thailand panda stars.
Recently the weather is Thailand has been a cool 4 degrees Celsius (39 Fahrenheit), which is closer to the natural temperature of where the pandas live. The panda carers are watching Lin Hui closely to see if she does come into season and will try a natural mating between the pair.
The wonderful people over at Pandas International have sent another donation of $7500 to the Wolong Panda Club. This brings the total to an estimated $38,000 dollars since the earthquake last May. They also sent much needed aid and equipment for both the pandas and people of Wolong soon after the earthquake.
The money was raised by donations from their regularly Members (Of which I am proud to be one) and one off donations from the general public around the world and from companies.
San Diego Zoo will be celebrating Gao Gao's 6th Anniversary at the zoo on, January the 21st.
Goa goa was found in the wild back in March 2003, he wasn't a year old and his mother had abandoned him for reasons unknown. He was taken to the Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve Rescue Center in the Sichuan Province and nursed back to health, his story was followed by children all over China.
In 1996 attempts were made to re-release him back to the wild, but he caused havoc to the local farmers fields and towns. So he was decided that he would be better of at Wolong.
The Washington Post has reported that Mei Xiang was heard emiting mating calls to Tian Tian. The keepers watched her hormone levels in Mei Xiang urine, when the levels suggested she had ovulated Tian Tian was allowed in to her enclosure. It appears that they did not manager to mate naturally so the vets anesthetized both pandas, collected semen from Tian Tian and placed it in Mei Xiand's uterus.
To mark the opening of the new panda area at Chengdu at the beginning of the year, world renowned artist Master Guo Yueming completes a miniature sculpture of a panda called Abao on to a panda hair.
The picture took 3 days to make was completed at a ceremony at Chengdu Research Centre as is the tradition in China.
With the photos I posted last year from my trip to china I used animoto.com to produce a short video sequence. Enjoy.
Is anybody home? I seem to of misplaced my keys and I can't get home