Friday, October 26, 2007
Watch Out for Pandas: They Bite!
They might look sweet and cuddly, but don't be fooled by appearances. Pandas can be pretty fierce creatures.
Yesterday at a Beijing Zoo, eight-year-old Gu Gu was minding his own business, when 15-year old Li Xitao decided it would be a good idea to scale the wall, and climb into his cage. Why anybody would jump into a cage with a panda that weighs over 240 lbs during lunch time is beyond me, and Gu Gu wasn't too happy about the situation.
Instead of chomping on bamboo, he took a bite out of Li's legs, and Li was promptly escorted to the hospital.
This isn't the first time Gu Gu has had unwelcome visitors. Last year a drunk man jumped into the cage for a bear hug, and ended up with two "kisses" aka bite marks of his own on his legs.
In a sense, I sympathize with these two men. Who hasn't had their own unwelcome animal encounters? When I was 3, I wanted to give my grandparents' dog a kiss goodnight. Instead of giving him a kiss, I ended up jumping on him, and breaking his leg. He repaid the favor, and sent me to the emergency room with stitches on my face. I still have the little scars.
I wasn't much luckier the next year when I went to the petting zoo and got attacked by a goose, who bit me in the stomach.
Needless to say, I don't have any pets at this point in my life, even though after about age 5, my luck with animals miraculously changed. I haven't had any bad encounters since, but you can never be too careful.
Of course, I'm not really in the same league as the two men who jumped into the cage with the panda. For starters, a 24 pound dog is a bit more manageable than a 240 pound hungry panda bear. I also didn't have to scale a fence to have my unfortunate animal encounters.
Nonetheless, it's important to remember that there's a reason for cages at the zoo, and that animals don't simply exist for human entertainment. Still, despite this bad panda press, I think the sales of panda paraphernalia in China and worldwide is still pretty safe. The sale of Gu Gu material might even be more secure.
What celebrity doesn't mind some extra publicity?
Giant pandas: the facts
Giant pandas are native to south and east Asia. They live in the mountains of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, central China.
As its ursine appearance suggests, it is a member of the bear family; similar in size to an American black bear, the giant panda stands 2-3 feet tall at the shoulder and can be up to six feet long nose to tail. Males can weigh up to 250lb (115kg).
Despite their Latin name, Carnivora ursidae, giant pandas are almost exclusively vegetarian; 99% of their diet consists of bamboo, with the rest being other grasses and occasional small animals. Their carnivorous heritage has left them ill-equipped to digest tough bamboo, and pandas need to eat for between 10 and 16 hours a day to get sufficient nutrients. Their distinctive coloration, white with black patches around their muzzle, eyes, ears, legs and shoulders, is thought to provide them with camouflage in their habitat, dappled with light in the forest and often covered with snow, ice and rocks. Although their teddy-bear appearance is thought to be cute, the giant panda is a powerful and dangerous creature, and attacks on humans are not unheard of. Pandas are slow to reproduce, as litters usually only consist of one cub, which will stay with its mother for up three years after birth. In the wild, therefore, a female panda can only have new young once every two years at most. This slow breeding rate, combined with a seeming reluctance to reproduce in captivity, has contributed to the panda's precarious grip on existence in the face of human-related survival pressures: they are threatened by habitat loss caused by farming and forest clearance, which has driven them from the lowlands into the remote mountain regions they now inhabit. The giant panda is on the World Conservation Union's "Red List" of endangered animals, with as few as 1,600 left in the wild and about a tenth that number in zoos and breeding centres, mainly in China. |
El panda del Zoo de Washington
Zoo borrows giant pandas, hopes for baby
Original Story Here
Two giant pandas are expected to double visitor numbers to Adelaide Zoo after they arrive in about 12 months।
The pandas, Wangwang and Funi, will come to Adelaide on loan from China and and it is hoped the pair will breed to help ensure the survival of the endangered species.
They are expected to be a major attraction for tourists from interstate and overseas.
A spokesman said about 400,000 people currently visit the zoo each year but that could double within two years of the arrival of Wangwang and Funi. That's what happened at San Diego Zoo in the United States after two pandas took up residence.
The Federal Government today pledged $5 million to build a state-of-the-art panda enclosure if it is returned at next month's election.
"We are delighted to announce the funding today on behalf of the Coalition Government which will allow the zoo to host the only pair of pandas in the southern hemisphere," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.
"The pandas are expected to arrive in the next 12 months and will require a purpose-built enclosure to maximise their comfort, breeding potential and allow visitors to enjoy a unique wildlife experience."
The panda loan was formalised by Prime Minister John Howard and Chinese President Hu Jintao during the recent APEC conference in Sydney.
