The 3-year-old arrived in her new home after a 17-hour flight from Washington. She is part of rigorous Chinese conservation efforts that have seen pandas successfully removed from the endangered species list.
Image: Reuters/China Daily
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Bao Bao the giant panda arrived in China on Thursday morning after a 17-hour flight from Washington DC. The 3-year-old landed in the city of Chengdu and was transported to the nearby Dujiangyan panda breeding center.
The panda was accompanied by Marty Dearie, her veterinarian and keeper, who will stay with Bao Bao until she becomes accustomed to her new home. Her first month will be full of health checks and diet monitoring.
"Once Bao Bao the panda completes this month of quarantine, she'll go on display to the public, and I welcome everyone to come see her then," said Dujiangyan researcher Li Desheng.
Dujiangyan is located in Sichuan province, whose mountains, along with parts of neighboring Shaanxi and Gansu, make up the relatively small natural habitat of the giant panda.
Bao Bao was born at the National Zoo in Washington to parents on loan from a Chinese facility. Under the program, baby pandas are expected to return to China before the age of 4, which is the earliest age at which they can breed. Bao Bao is the 11th panda to be born in the US and brought back to China as part of the agreement.
Local celebrity, national symbol
In her early years, she proved to be quite a tourist draw in Washington, and her departure was marked by six days of ceremonies and activities in her honor.
Giant pandas have long been a symbol not only of China, but also of the dangers poachers and habitat loss pose to animals. For centuries, pandas were hunted for their prized fur. Deforestation and pollution drove their numbers down even further. Because they must eat bamboo nearly constantly to maintain their own body weight, pandas are slow-moving and provide easy targets to hunters.
However, decades of conservation efforts are finally showing some improvement - in 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) finally moved the animals off of its list of endangered species. Giant pandas are now listed as "vulnerable," though they are still completely reliant on human intervention to sustain the population.
Even pandas get lonely
Until now, scientists have been convinced that pandas are solitary and reclusive animals. But a new study reveals they enjoy spending time together. And who wouldn't want to hang out with these endearing creatures?
Image: Reuters
Food matters - and so does good company
In the wild, pandas roam China's bamboo-clad mountain ranges, eating 10 to 20 kilograms (22 to 44 pounds) of the plant a day. But who wants to eat alone? A shared feast is twice as tasty!
Image: Reuters
Better together
Pandas are no loners, say scientists in the US and China. They put GPS collars on five pandas and tracked them over two years. To the researchers' surprise, three of the animals spent much of the fall - outside the spring mating season - living side-by-side.
Image: Fotolia/xiaoma
Privacy, please!
The endangered giant panda is an elusive animal. Until now, scientists have usually monitored them in zoos and breeding centers. It isn’t easy to spot them in their natural habitat: the dense and inaccessible forests of southeastern China. Active at night, they sleep through the day in caves or hollow tree trunks.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Romance? Not today ...
Even though the study suggests pandas are more sociable than previously thought, their relationships tend to be platonic. Female pandas are only sexually receptive for two days each year - the rest of the time, anything more than friendship is off the menu.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Xu Kangping
First steps
Panda cubs are always a sensation - whether they are born in the wild or in captivity. The cute, furry youngsters begin to crawl at 75 to 80 days old. These are the first steps of a long journey - pandas live for 20 or even 30 years.
Image: AP
Blind, toothless, naked
There is little glamour to a panda's start in life. Weighing just 90 to 120 grams (3 to 4 ounces), with a long tail and no fur, a newborn panda cub looks more like mouse or mole than the iconic beast it will grow into.
Image: Reuters
How to save a sex-shy species
Scientists have carried out extensive research aimed at saving the giant panda from extinction. Now, they can predict a female's sexually receptive days from her body language. From there, artificial insemination is the method of choice. In this case, reproduction is more a matter of survival than romance.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Chinafotopress/Li Wei
A pile of pandas
The survival of the giant panda has become a national cause in China. With the latest figures showing their numbers rose from 268 to 1,864 over the last decade, there could finally be something to celebrate. And now we know that pandas do in fact enjoy one another’s company, perhaps they should throw a party, too.
