Panda Research Base! - Chengdu - China (Has a cute video ;) )

Hi Steemians

Now if you go to China, then you can’t help but hear about the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding centre. This non-profit research and breeding facility is for giant pandas and other rare animals. Its located in Chengdu, Sichuan, China (which by the way has the best food in the whole of China 😉 ).

The Panda Base was founded in 1987 and started with just 6 giant pandas! Today there are many more and has been responsible for over 124 panda births.

As you will read about later, Pandas are notoriously difficult to mate. To help them along in this journey the research centre carries out the most successful artificial insemination programs, which means there are always these cuties about!!

Panda facts

The Giant Panda is a rather interesting creature. The Panda aka dà xióng māo which literally means “big bear cat” (i love this!) is a species of bear native south China.
Panda_(Chinese_characters).svg.png

Population
An estimated 1000 Pandas lives outside of captivity (Briggs 2006)
Physical status
Can grow up to 2m long and weigh up to 125kg and live for about 20 years
Diet
Although they are suited to eating meat, the Giant Panda spends most of its life eating Bamboo and eats as much as 14kg of bamboo shoots per day, with most of it passing straight through! (Dierensfeld 1982)

Reproduction
This is where we find out one of the big reasons there are not many Pandas. The Female can give birth to cubs once every 2 years!! On this 2nd year the female is only receptive to mating for less than a week and only fertile for 24 hours!!!

Final thoughts

I love Pandas, though honestly if they were not big, fluffy and cute the species would be long extinct 😔 😔 This really saddens me as there are thousands of species on this planet which are in such a vulnerable status and need help, however no one is doing anything about them because they are not as “as impressive” or as cute as the Giant Panda.

Either way, I thought I should support the centre as its doing great work for a vulnerable species - so bought an amazing hat!

References

http://www.panda.org.cn/english/about/about/2013-09-11/2416.html

Briggs, Helen (20 June 2006). "Hope for future of giant panda". BBC News. Retrieved 14 February 2007.

Dierenfeld, E. S.; Hintz, H. F.; Robertson, J. B.; Van Soest, P. J.; Oftedal, O. T. (1982). "Utilization of bamboo by the giant panda". Journal of Nutrition. 112 (4): 636–641

If you enjoyed this post check out my blog :)
The-sassy-owl

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@the-sassy-owl got you a 100.0% @minnowbooster upvote, nice!

This post received a 1.2% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @the-sassy-owl! For more information, click here!

Wow chengdu .... after see those picture nd after read yr journal i wish yo go visit china right now ... ha ha ha but so sad i hv no wings ga ha ha ba ha ... keep posting this way like we can see more beautiful places ...i follow u dear friend for more posts ...soon i will start posting now just little preparation ... hope we meet again here my friend

:) :) Aww thanks dude!!! and aye stay tuned, promise to post more up soon ! ;)

Nice! I've always wanted to go to Chengdu and hold a Panda!!

I know man!! You have to pay a little bit to hold one, I was happy enough just seeing them that close!! Plus the red panda walk is amazing!!!

That's amazing! I wouldn't mind paying to hold a panda tho haha

hehe i thought so!! The person I was traveling with at the time did not... and thinks I have ruined all the pictures :(

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