1. Clean enclosures and feed the Pandas!!
My team mates, Ali from Sweden and Chriszelda from South Africa!
In the morning, we got into groups to clean the enclosure.
I got to clean 雄浜's room!!
He’s the Panda that was born in Wakayama from the "Mickey Mouse" family,
mother is 梅梅and father is 永明.
The first thing we did was to clean the room
and weigh all the left over’s in order to know that
he is healthy and has good appetite.
Then we cleaned the facility with water and scrubbed the whole room.
雄浜 was watching me across the window from outside while I was
cleaning the room, and it seems that he recognizes me!
I’ve seen him before in Wakayama, and after all the years,
we met in Chengdu which is amazing.
雄浜watching me through the window
We fed him his favorite apples and bamboo shoots,
and each time I called his name in Japanese,
he looks up at me, and Ali and Chriszelda were saying that
he still understands Japanese! 雄浜is a clever boy, and he is definitely bilingual!!
雄浜looking up as I called his name in Japanese
雄浜 eating his favorite bamboo shoot
We were also taught how to keep diaries of each Pandas
every single day on how much appetite they have and
to make sure everything is OK.
2. Brief lecture on Pandas
We learned about the distribution of Pandas in history and current,
how the Chengdu Panda Base started in 1987,
the technique in raising twin babies (the switching system)
and Genome Resource Bank.
As for wild Pandas, it is said that only 40% of babies grow to bewcome adults.
The reasons are that when mother Pandas give birth to a child,
they don’t eat nor drink for several months
because babie's don’t have the ability to keep their temperature,
and mothers have to hold them in their arm 24 hours.
If the babies are abandoned from mothers for some reason,
they will die easily. Captive Pandas that are born in Chengdu Panda Base,
take the "switching system".
While one baby is being fed and taken care of from their mother,
the other is kept in incubators to keep them warm and safe.
Every few hours the babies are switched,
and the Panda keepers make sure that
both the twins are fed with mother’s milk.
Since 1990, twin babies have been able to survive
more and more in the Panda Base, with all the experience.
3. Cleaning nursery enclosures and preparing fresh bamboos.
The nursery is a place where five 2 year old Pandas are kept in together.
The Panda keepers clean the enclosure every day,
prepare fresh bamboos, and feed them
with their favorite Panda cakes and apples.
We gave the Pandas a shower and prepared fresh bamboos (heavy!!)
and fed them with apples and Panda cakes (full of nutrition).
Carrying out the left over bamboo
Feeding the Pandas with their favorite apples and Panda cakes
4. Interactive presentation from the WWF.
The main topic was the current status of wild Pandas,
the Wild Panda habitats and population,
Panda distribution area in the past and current,
threats to Panda and habitats,
what WWF does to save the wild Pandas,
and what we Pambassadors can do to save wild Pandas.
The WWF have been doing monitoring and patrolling
of Pandas and other animals, and have also given education on environment to the people.
More to come tomorrow!
