Yesterday we went to a Panda Breeding and Research Centre. We volunteered and helped clean up poop and their mess. The poo was very stinky and really really heavy. Did you know that only 20% of the bamboo gets digested? And they need to drink a lot of water even to get that much.
We were in charge of Ling Ling’s enclosure. Ling Ling’s poo from one day weighed 38 kilos - we scooped it all, separating it from the bamboo left over. We had to clean up the one day old bamboo that he wouldn’t eat any more.
Their favorite foods are apples and Panda Cakes which are made out of wheat, corn rice and vitamins. We tried a little bit of one and it would be the last food option I would eat. They only get one cake about the size of a cupcake each day so they don’t get too fat. We fed them the apples, cakes and bamboo shoots. They are very intelligent and are amazingly quick at stripping the skin of the bamboo.
We fed one of the most famous Panda’s in the world, her name is Mei Lei. She was a very queen like panda bear and would sit with the cakes in front of her nose that we were holding while she ate her bamboo. Every now and then she would take a bite of her cake or apple. She is very lazy.
There are only 1600 pandas left in the wild in the world and they are only found in China. Though the Chinese are trying to reintroduce them, the wild bears are stronger and will kill the reintroduced bears for food. There have been no successful reintroductions but they are making a new habitat for bears that is closer to the natural habitat - at the same altitude - so they can hopefully have a successful reintroduction program.
The section of the center that we worked had nine bears. Three adults and six cubs two years old. One of the cubs won’t eat the healthy cake unless it is with a special formula so they have to do that so the bear gets its vitamins. When we were feeding them the apples with special vitamins in them, the bears were so smart that they spat out the pills!
We also saw some red pandas. There are 5000 left in the world and they are found in a few countries. We didn’t clean their sanctuaries but we could observe them for an hour. They are really funny because they always lie in the trees. One time when we were watching them they were fighting for some weird reason. Our volunteer worker said that the red pandas are territorial and solitary like the giant pandas.
It was so fun I would definitely do it again if we could.
Bye Mattias
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| Scooping poop! |
We were in charge of Ling Ling’s enclosure. Ling Ling’s poo from one day weighed 38 kilos - we scooped it all, separating it from the bamboo left over. We had to clean up the one day old bamboo that he wouldn’t eat any more.
Their favorite foods are apples and Panda Cakes which are made out of wheat, corn rice and vitamins. We tried a little bit of one and it would be the last food option I would eat. They only get one cake about the size of a cupcake each day so they don’t get too fat. We fed them the apples, cakes and bamboo shoots. They are very intelligent and are amazingly quick at stripping the skin of the bamboo.
 |
| Feeding Mei Lei apples |
We fed one of the most famous Panda’s in the world, her name is Mei Lei. She was a very queen like panda bear and would sit with the cakes in front of her nose that we were holding while she ate her bamboo. Every now and then she would take a bite of her cake or apple. She is very lazy.
There are only 1600 pandas left in the wild in the world and they are only found in China. Though the Chinese are trying to reintroduce them, the wild bears are stronger and will kill the reintroduced bears for food. There have been no successful reintroductions but they are making a new habitat for bears that is closer to the natural habitat - at the same altitude - so they can hopefully have a successful reintroduction program.
The section of the center that we worked had nine bears. Three adults and six cubs two years old. One of the cubs won’t eat the healthy cake unless it is with a special formula so they have to do that so the bear gets its vitamins. When we were feeding them the apples with special vitamins in them, the bears were so smart that they spat out the pills!
 |
| Ling Ling snacking on bamboo shoots |
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| Panda or raccoon? |
We also saw some red pandas. There are 5000 left in the world and they are found in a few countries. We didn’t clean their sanctuaries but we could observe them for an hour. They are really funny because they always lie in the trees. One time when we were watching them they were fighting for some weird reason. Our volunteer worker said that the red pandas are territorial and solitary like the giant pandas.
It was so fun I would definitely do it again if we could.
Bye Mattias
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