PANDA-monium

written October 5, 2009 in Chengdu, China (day 5 of the trip)...

The sole purpose for my visit to Chengdu was to see the cuddly panda bears. The Sichuan province is one of only three Chinese provinces where pandas still live in the wild. As their numbers dwindle (only an estimated 1,000 remain in the wild) it has become vital for researchers to breed and care for the bears in captivity.

As with most places in Chengdu, my hostel arranged a tour group to visit the center. We arrived early, before the crowds, so as to make sure we saw the bears during their most active period of the day. After 10:00 am they slow down and spend much of their time sleeping.

The adorable pandas were wide-awake when we arrived and munched on sticks of bamboo—their favorite culinary dish. Technically, the Giant Panda is a carnivore that once dined on meat, but somewhere along the way their diet habits morphed until they began to rely solely on bamboo. However, they still retain their carnivorous digestive system and cannot efficiently breakdown the cellulose in bamboo thus deriving little energy or protein from their diet. To compensate, they eat large quantities of bamboo (20-30 pounds per day) and rest continuously, keeping their movement and exertion to a minimum.

Pandas are notoriously finicky about mating and researchers have had a difficult time finding suitable partners for the young bears. Although some demonstrate readiness for “marriage,” others find it dull and unappealing. Because of this significant challenge, researchers have turned to artificial insemination as a primary method of reproduction. Once pregnant, however, the panda still has a long road ahead of her. Because of their immense size, it is often difficult to tell if a panda is pregnant until one bear becomes two. Unlike other animal species, birth is not always an innate occurrence for the bears and can come as quite a shock. The newborn cubs are almost always born under-developed and can be 1/1000^th the size of their mother. As we saw in a video at the Center, the babies often pop out before the mother has time to realize what is happening. For the mother’s first birth, this can be a scary and traumatic experience. In the wild and sometimes in captivity, too, the mother will abandon or hurt the newborn in an attempt to protect herself from the pink, hairless, screaming creature. However, after the trauma of its first birth, a mother panda is much more prepared the second time around and will nurse and care for the baby as nature intended. Pandas give birth to twins at a rate of 40%, but without the help of humans can only care for one at a time. It is unknown by scientists how the mother chooses, but sadly one cub is almost always abandoned.

A baby panda is reliant on its mother until about 1 ½ years old. From then on, it lives alone and enjoys a life of eating, sleeping, and pooping until it’s lucky enough to one day meet someone special when the cycle begins again.