The Giant Pandas
Trip Start
Apr 02, 2006
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6
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Trip End
May 02, 2006
Chengdu, China
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Our Easter Sunday started by waking up at 4:30am on an overnight train. There was nothing 'Easter' in China except the Irish couple wishing us a Happy Easter. This was a quick stop in the city of Chengu thus we headed out to the Giant Panda Reserve early in the morning. We actually got there before anyone else and were there before the Pandas woke up. It started to get more crowded in the late morning when the Pandas started to eat. They were so cute as they all sat around eating and then playing. The star of the show was the 3 month old baby Panda who is the mascot of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She was so playful and ran around following her handler - she was so cute and couldn't walk very fast as she was just getting this walking thing down. The Panda's have the largest homes in China! Their space is quite large and is kept very clean - not like your typical zoo. The primary function of the reserve is to study Pandas and help them reproduce so they do not become extinct. We watched a video about the reserve and Panda reproduction and learned that Panda's give birth to a baby that is about 8 lbs (yah, not fair considering they are HUGE). The baby just slides out and first time mothers don't know what it is, so it is common for them to accidently kill the baby as they swat it around - thus the researchers help out. Right now there are 2000 Pandas and hopefully growing.
