Wednesday, May 21, 2008
May 21 2008 Pandas are OK
In addition to the terrible loss of life and property in China's earthquake, there has been concern about the 2 large panda reserves in Chengdu. Because of my close encounter with the National Treasures last month, my friends in China have been sending me some of the pictures that have been circulating that show the post-quake pandas.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing these. That bottom one is too cute - with the little baby panda going through the filing cabinet (looking for treats?), and the rest of them just rolling around on the floor. And the top one is a cutie, sitting on it's green plastic horsie. And the middle one with them all chowing down, facing deep in their food dish - too cute!
okay, okay. . .so I think they're all cute. I also laugh at lolcats. so sue me. :D
Hee!
You'll note I picked 3 pictures with an overriding "Panda Day Care" theme.
I think they are just the most fascinating creatures. It's like looking at a room full of Ewoks.
I've never been much for animal biology, but I think if I had seen pictures like this in high school or college I would have pitched chemistry to be able to study these little buggers and to be the guy who sits in a room with them all milling about.
Imprisoning a pair of them in a US zoo setting is (perhaps) clearly the wrong thing to do if they are really this social (it seems to me, the armchair biologist).
Things get dicey when it comes to mating, though. The lady pandas are only in heat for a few days a year, and the boys get all competitive and fight with each other to figure out who gets to do the deed. These two breeding centers have only let one of these pandas into the wild as a part of their release program, and it turned out to have a tragic ending. They released a boy, and he was doing just fine till mating season came along. He did not know how to defend himself when the other boys got aggressive and he was killed. So they have never released another one. When they do, they are thinking now of only releasing the girls.
Post a Comment