Conservation Education at the Panda Base: Constant Action
For me, these scenes will always remain vivid in my mind. Children finding surprises along nature’s trails, a flower opening in the morning, a stream hidden in the grass, a pheasant poking its head into the soil and the footprints of an unknown animal. The serious expressions on children’s faces when they discover the source […]
Jiao Zi Gave Birth to Rare Triplets, One Survived
In August, San Er, one of Jiao Zi’s triplets, survived thanks to the efforts of giant panda experts and keepers at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. At 17 days old, San Er weighed 329g and was in good health. However her mother’s health was threatened because of a long and difficult labor. […]
Su Su’s Biography
Giant panda Su Su was rescued on May 16, 1986 in Mabian county, Sichuan province, and transferred a few days later to the Chengdu Zoo. It is believed that she was born circa 1983, making her approximately 30 years old. She is one of five tricenarians in the captive panda population. Due to the lack […]
Panda Q&A Part 6
Q: At this time is the giant panda population shrinking? Is it under the risk of extinction in this century? A: The giant panda is really a strong species in terms of evolution. It survived the dreadful quaternary ice age while many species that lived during the same time-period have become extinct. This is why […]
A Breathtaking Moment on the Precipice
On the last day of our return journey from the Jiguan Mountains, we were traversing a diff estimated to be 90 degrees up and 50m in height. The path itself was only about 20cm wide and a torrent of water raged below us. I was the heaviest of our team, weighing 110kg, and my teammates […]
The Charm of Mountains
I traveled from Chengdu to Xiaojin to join the census team in May 2013. Throughout the course of my work, I climbed over the Balang Mountains and approached the snowline on Four-girl Mountains (locally known as Mount Siguniang)，along the transect lines, that were pre-determined from a global positioning system (GPS). I had the great fortune […]
From Taciturn to Easygoing
I used to be shy and timid when I spoke to others, but the 4th National Giant Panda Census changed me. My University major was zoology, yet since childhood I was interested in plants, and during the census I was assigned to the biology group. Our role was to identify and recognize different plant species, […]
My Unforgettable Experience
In the course of the 4th National Giant Panda Census, there were innumerable stories that we continue to cherish tenderly in our minds. I remember Yingjingj a pilot site for the census, where the Paocaowan area possessed such a maze of a terrain that even we got lost and our guides did not know what […]
Searching for Giant Panda Traces in the Snow
An eight-day snowstorm raged from April 4 to 11 2013, trapping four surveyors from the census team and their five local guides in the Jiguan Mountains. We had to sleep on the snow in the open air for four nights and only managed to cover half the area we planned in the Anzi River Nature […]
Nature as My Schoolbook
It has been exactly fourteen months since I joined the team of the 4th National Giant Panda Census. We left our footprints in the wild of ten counties and thirty-three towns including Leibo, Mabian, Ebian, Wenchuan, Mao county, Songpan, Beichuan, Jiuzhai Valley, Mian-zhu, and Shifang. Like an enormous book replete with diverse landscapes and ethnic […]