China Panda Tour
Po playing with bamboo
Article by Eric Xu
The giant panda is universally loved. Their symbolic black and white fur-color distinguishes them well from any other animals. Giant Panda, with only about one thousand left in the wild, is also the most well known endangered animal in the world. Also more than 80% of giant pandas left in the world are living in and around Sichuan.
The lovely pandas win the province the reputation of "the Hometown of Giant Pandas". Wolong Nature Reserves and Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding are the paradise of giant pandas. By care and support from all over the world, the Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and Conservation has been set aside in Chengdu with the largest scale and most modern facilities. Loving nature and protecting our environment are the common responsibility borne upon on the mankind.
In the environment suitable for pandas to live, tourists will enjoy beautiful natural scenery as well.
Wolong Giant Panda Reserve Centre
The Wolong Giant Panda Reserve Centre is one of the earliest research bases established in the early 1980s by the Government of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Until 1989, the Ministry of Forestry of PRC and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) formulated a long-term Giant Panda Management Plan.
Today, the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve Centre has become the Giant Panda Breeding Centre focusing on research works on giant panda breeding and bamboo ecology.
The Centre basically takes care of giant pandas under three situations: When the giant pandas are brought up from captive breeding, When the giant pandas are somehow dispersed from the group, or are rescued from injury, and have lost the ability to survive if released back to the wild, When the giant pandas are ready to be released back t to the wild
The Centre has two types of 'accommodations' for giant pandas - the Captive Cages and the Semi-nature Enclosures.
Most of the giant pandas in the Centre stay individually in the captive cages, which are in fact large enclosures, each consists of an in-door room and an out-door courtyard.
The semi-nature enclosures are very large wild areas but protected by border fences. Those giant pandas that will soon be released back to the wild will be put in the semi-nature enclosures for a long enough period of time for them to adapt to the natural environment. Although food has to be provided, the giant pandas will sleep there, eat there and recover their natural survival skills there until they can be released back to the wild.
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, or simply Chengdu Panda Base, is a non-profit research and breeding facility for giant pandas and other rare animals. It is located in Chengdu.
Chengdu Panda Base was founded in 1987. It started with 6 giant pandas that were rescued from the wild. By 2007, it has had 110 panda births, and the captive panda population has grown to 62. Its stated goal is to "be a world-class research facility, conservation education center, and international educational tourism destination."
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is situated on the Axe Hill 10 kilometers from the north suburb of Chengdu City. It covers an area of 600 acres. The environment here is exquisitely designed; the air is refreshing with the bamboo growing luxuriantly and flocks of wild birds flying around.
You are able to see Pandas almost in their natural environment as they have plenty of space around them. They are absolutely incredible to watch. They spend most of their day eating bamboo; in fact they get through about 50 kilos a day!
As well as the giant pandas there is also an enclosure for the smaller red panda, which is about the size of a fox and moves much more quickly. Both of the Pandas look like some Disney cartoon creature, rather than a wild animal. They are fascinating to watch.
One of the biggest attractions is the Panda nursery where you can watch the baby pandas through glass in the! ir playp ens. You are not allowed to photograph the baby pandas, as the flash can hurt their eyes.
Many of you may have been excited by a pair of giant pandas in the zoo. Despite of their laziness, they are cute and charming. Every movement of them looks so funny but humane. But, imagine there are at one time over twenty giant pandas wandering in front of you. Would you gape
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