Panda News from around the world
Andi is going to have to help me with the naming of this Panda, I found her (I think) on leopard mountain on one of my treks around the reserve, on Andi's day off so couldn't go in and visit the other Pandas but she was out and about posing for everyone, She definitely loved having her picture taken. [That looks a lot like Ge Ge and he's a boy! (Andi)]
Good news for us pandas lover it appears that San Diego have managed to negotiate a better deal to keep their adorable pandas. The loan had been extended for another 5 years and will cost half the original price for a pair of adult pandas. The price to keep a keep a cub is still being negotiated.
This opens the doors for other zoos in the USA to renew their contracts at a lower price.
It used to cost $1 Million a year to keep a pair of adult pandas, this has now dropped to $500,000.
Hopefully I will be able to see them in San Diego Zoo.
This i think is an adorable picture of Mei Sheng, I also think this is a rather precarious position for such heavy animals, but he seemed very comfortable. Mei Sheng spent a long time up in his tree, he would only really come down at feeding time.[ I read somewhere that the pandas that come from the USA spend more time up trees that the Chinese born pandas (Andi)]
On December 7th, former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and former Chief of Staff Mr. Carnot visited the Chengdu Panda Base. They visited the Padna Nursery, sub-adult and adult pandas. Mr. de Villepin was very excited to see these animals. Then, he gave high praise to the base on its panda conservation work.
Mr. de Villepin’s trip to the base not only strengthened the friendship between China and France, but also encouraged people from all walks of life to care about and support panda conservation efforts in China
This is another picture of Le Sheng, this stance is taught to them by the keepers as part of their training, however Le Sheng was very lazy and she should both paws holding onto the higher bar and standing up properly but she was more interested in the food rather than being taught things.[Sounds like any University Student, though I think it's normally beer:) (Andi)]
Atlanta zoo has announced that the popular Panda Cam will stop transmitting at the end of the year. A spoke person has said though it was extremely popular the current financial situation means that the zoo as to reduce it's spending as much as possible.
The web cam has been running for special occasions for 10 years.
So go see Xi lan, on his cam while you still can. The panda Cam runs 10am - 5pm each day
This is Le Sheng, Mei Shengs neighbour in the temporary enclosure. She was an interesting Panda, she wasn't a big fan of bamboo and didn't really eat much of it but she loved apples, carrots and panda cake. Here I'm feeding her an apple through the bars, this is the closest we were allowed to get to the Pandas which is still dangerous because they could still hit us but they were more interested in the food to even notice we were around. They also liked to lick your hand while you were feeding them :)
Unlike Andi and the other volunteers i was not in Leopard Mountain, i was in the private area that was not open to the public where the Pandas from Wolong were temporary living, the area that took Andi four weeks to find![It was only 3, and I did find the place just Mei Sheng who was hiding from me! (Andi)] I had the great pleasure of looking after Mei Sheng and this is him in his favourite place, up his tree, I have many pics of him in various poses, looking rather precarious, i'm not sure how the branches did not break off.
Unlike Andi and the other volunteers i was not in Leopard Mountain, i was in the private area that was not open to the public where the Pandas from Wolong were temporary living, the area that took Andi four weeks to find![It was only 3, and I did find the place just Mei Sheng who was hiding from me! (Andi)] I had the great pleasure of looking after Mei Sheng and this is him in his favourite place, up his tree, I have many pics of him in various poses, looking rather precarious, i'm not sure how the branches did not break off.
A keeper at Hong Kong's Ocean park was attacked by a An An (peace) when he was putting bamboo in the panda enclosure. The attack happened on Nov 30th. It appears that the keeper did not follow protocol and lock the panda in it's den while entering the enclosure.
It seems to me that a lot of people are forgetting that these adorable creatures are wild bears. They are such peaceful creatures most of the time it is easy to forget.
Today I have gone slightly off topic, it happens to be my mum's birthday so I thought I would celebrate this with a picture of her at Bifengxia. It was also to show everyone what we had to wear when cleaning the Panda enclosures. We nicknamed it the convict suit as it resembles the bright orange jump suits seen in most American convict movies. Back to the Pandas tomorrow.
Note from Andi. I just wanted to say that your mum looks great in her suit, mine was way too small and it was the biggest they had. Oh and Happy Birthday Mary (Alices' Mum).
Panda News would like to introduce you to Xi Lan (She Lahn) the official name of the only panda cub born in the USA this year at Atlanta Zoo
UPDATE (I choose the wrong picture the original was of Xi Lan older sister Mei Lan thanks to Joanne for spotting this)