Chengdu, China - Pandamonium
I booked a tour of the Panda Center on the outskirts of Chengdu. We gathered at 7:30 and took a minibus to the Center. Fortunately we saw 10-14 pandas being their goofy selfs in the fairly large reserve. One was sitting up and looked at times like he was meditating, another was sprawled out on his back sleeping - everything akimbo, another sleeping in the fork of a tree, others were moving through the trees and bushes, another was scratching it's butt on a tree limb and some were feeding on bamboo shoots. This was morning feeding time and the attendants provided bunches of bamboo shoots to the bears. The bears stripped the outer rind and chewed the inner, juicy parts of the bamboo. They didn't really care what position they were in when they were eating, somtimes sitting and somtimes laying on their backs with their fat bellies covered with bamboo shoot husks.
We also saw the incubation area for the babies. They were very small and very cute! Fortuntely they were not newborns, as the newborns are hairless, pink and kind of ugly.
The Panda museum had some interesting information about the pandas, such as:
- pandas are only found in China (other than in zoos)
- they eat about 16-hours a day
- in the wild they tend to be solitary and mark their own territories
- they have twins 45% of the time, but in the wild cannot take care of two babies and one will usually die through starvation or be crushed
- they love water and will travel to find it, but otherwise don't move around too much, except when they are young
- they don't have dens, but will sleep in caves, trees or on the ground
- of the 60 kinds of bamboo they can eat, they really only prefer twenty kinds
- it is estimated there are about 1,600 pandas left in the wild.
- scientists have come a long way in breeding and keeping pandas alive in captivity, but on a very limited basis
The museum also had some of the most pitifully stuffed animals I have ever seen in diaramas. Sometimes it was to the point of the stuffed animals being unrecognizable. It gave me a greater appreciation for the artistry involved in taxidermy.
The giant pandas aren't quite as giant as I thought, though I wouldn't want to tangle with one.
I booked a tour of the Panda Center on the outskirts of Chengdu. We gathered at 7:30 and took a minibus to the Center. Fortunately we saw 10-14 pandas being their goofy selfs in the fairly large reserve. One was sitting up and looked at times like he was meditating, another was sprawled out on his back sleeping - everything akimbo, another sleeping in the fork of a tree, others were moving through the trees and bushes, another was scratching it's butt on a tree limb and some were feeding on bamboo shoots. This was morning feeding time and the attendants provided bunches of bamboo shoots to the bears. The bears stripped the outer rind and chewed the inner, juicy parts of the bamboo. They didn't really care what position they were in when they were eating, somtimes sitting and somtimes laying on their backs with their fat bellies covered with bamboo shoot husks.
We also saw the incubation area for the babies. They were very small and very cute! Fortuntely they were not newborns, as the newborns are hairless, pink and kind of ugly.
The Panda museum had some interesting information about the pandas, such as:
- pandas are only found in China (other than in zoos)
- they eat about 16-hours a day
- in the wild they tend to be solitary and mark their own territories
- they have twins 45% of the time, but in the wild cannot take care of two babies and one will usually die through starvation or be crushed
- they love water and will travel to find it, but otherwise don't move around too much, except when they are young
- they don't have dens, but will sleep in caves, trees or on the ground
- of the 60 kinds of bamboo they can eat, they really only prefer twenty kinds
- it is estimated there are about 1,600 pandas left in the wild.
- scientists have come a long way in breeding and keeping pandas alive in captivity, but on a very limited basis
The museum also had some of the most pitifully stuffed animals I have ever seen in diaramas. Sometimes it was to the point of the stuffed animals being unrecognizable. It gave me a greater appreciation for the artistry involved in taxidermy.
The giant pandas aren't quite as giant as I thought, though I wouldn't want to tangle with one.
posted by Chris at 9:02 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home