Asia Trip Day 16: Pandas (1/3/18)

 

This morning, we went to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. We tried to go as early as we could, since later times would mean larger crowds and less panda activity after their lunch. We took the Chengdu metro to the area, which had many buses to take groups directly to the panda zoo. At the panda zoo, we needed to wait in another line to take carts tour carts to main panda exhibits. The entire research base was about 3 miles in length, so it was best to start at the top and work our way down.

I was excited to see real pandas for the first time, but I was also feeling some stomach pain, likely caused by the hot pot the night before. After the tour bus dropped us off, I rushed to the bathroom, and relief washed over me in an awesome wave. The bathroom was actually very nice, probably because this was a large tourist attraction. There was an actual toilet, there was incense burning, and there was an open that looked out into the bamboo forest. In my rush, I went into the family bathroom, so I enjoyed nice privacy. After this, I was relieved of my pain and was able to fully enjoy seeing the pandas.

I prefer the real Mao Mao
Chinese for panda is "dà xióng māo" which literally translates to "big bear cat"

We walked around to see the panda exhibits. Each area was fairly large, and would contain about 3 to 6 giant pandas, based on age. In Summer 2016, Xuezhu visited this exhibit and there were infant pandas in the birthing areas. The pandas would have biographies of their birth date, parents, and their personality. Its likely that some of the baby pandas she saw last year had grown into the pandas we saw at the exhibit. When they're newborn, they're very small (roughly 6 inches, 0.5 lbs) and pink, like moles. But they exponentially grow into adulthood, where they can grow to be 6 ft and 300 lbs. The exhibit said that panda mothers often give birth to twins, but in nature they can only take care of one, so the other dies. Thankfully, at the research base they can ensure that both babies survive. 

The enclosures was filled with trees, playgrounds, and cut bamboo. There was kind of moat between the handrails and the panda area, probably to prevent people from touching the pandas if they came too close. It looked like the moat was about a 4 ft drop, and didn't have any sort of rails for the pandas. I was worried if would tumble down, since pandas are known for being a little clumsy.

It was easy to see the distinct personalities between each panda based on their posture and actions. The pandas described as shy would prefer to stay alone or hang out near the door of the building so they can return to privacy. There was a very active panda that was doing laps around the enclosure. Most of the other pandas would hang around each other, either sleeping or eating. I didn't see too much playing between them. I suppose that since they're not hunters they don't need to play fight.

This would be less cute if it were a bunch of fat guys

The one on the right is dual-wielding bamboo

The exhibit showed that giant pandas have a special bone on their wrist that serves as a thumb, which they use to grip bamboo as they eat it. A common technique I saw was them gripping the bamboo into their mouth with both paws, as they laid on their back chewing on it.

Pandas need to eat 30 lbs of bamboo a day, since it has very low calories. Pandas have specialized stomach bacteria to help them digest the bamboo, to adapt to its high abundance. With so many pandas eating so much bamboo, I imagine that it's a ton of poop for the zoo keepers. The exhibits were very clean, so they they must poop somewhere else.

Sharing ancestors with other great bears, they were carnivores. This is evident in their large canines. I think they are occasionally meat-eaters if they get their hands on a bird or rodent.

There were also exhibits for red pandas, however they more difficult to find because they were smaller and prefer to hide in the trees. The exhibit wasn't an enclosure like for the giant pandas, instead it was a hiking trail through a bamboo forest. Xuezhu pointed out a group of people looking upwards, so we followed them and found one hanging out.

Red pandas were discovered and documented before the giant pandas, so they were just called "pandas". It is easy to see that they are more closely related to raccoons than bears. I'm not sure if red pandas and giant pandas interact in any way. They are mostly solitary, so they don't even interact with each other. They also mainly eat bamboo, but sometimes can eat small mammals and birds.

One red panda actually climbed down the tree and walked through the fence and a crowd of people to cross to the other side. It was like paparazzi chasing a celebrity crossing a street. I suppose that these red pandas are accustomed to humans staring at them, and trust that they aren't a threat. There are many cameras and security guards in the area too, in case someone hated pandas and wanted to kick them for some reason. Lastly, while red pandas are as endangered as giant pandas due to environmental reasons, I don't think they get coddled as much. I think that's because they are far more competent and agile than their big dumb cousins.   

Afterwords, Xuezhu took me to another massage parlor. This one was higher class and expensive than the previous one. We both got foot massages, and Xuezhu got an additional back massage. They started us off by soaking our feet in a special herbal solution. I'm not sure what it was exactly, but it was very hot, which felt very nice. This time, we both had women giving the massages, but she too was quite rough with my feet. She would use her knuckles to really dig into my feet. Foot masseurs know where all the tender muscles and ligaments are, as well what they indicate for the whole body. I'm glad she didn't do anything ticklish though, because I might've kicked her in the face. My masseur could tell that I had stomach issues by certain nerves in my feet. Despite the better atmosphere compared to the previous one, the masseurs would keep talking and telling us we had bodily problems so that we would buy more massages. I didn't appreciate that, but I understand that its a business.

 

For dinner that night, we meet with Xuezhu's high school friends for hot pot (the 3rd time). Their high school was a foreign language school (English), so they all had some English. They were nice, and treated us to the dinner. We did bring them some takoyaki-flavored snacks from Japan. The only other guy there I spoke with because he had great English, as he is a PhD mechanical engineering student in Stanford. He is quite smart, and in the past he helped Xuezhu a lot in their high school studies. 

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