Wednesday 10th September - day 21
Chengdu
We leave the hostel at 7.30am to make our way to the panda breading centre. We catch a local bus (no 1) to zhaojuesi bus station (north chengdu) and then change for the 87 straight to the breading centre. We arrive at 9 and pay 54 rmb to get in. The panda is unique to china but with a population of just 1,600 and another 300 odd in zoos, they are seriously endangered. The research centre was set up in 1987 to 'give a helping hand' with the breeding. Added concern for the pandas came after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake which seriously affected the pandas population and habitat - along with development also ruining their habitats and food sources. The pandas are very fussy about what they eat and much of the bamboo is collected by local farmers who hike up into the mountains, select the appropriate bamboo and carry 60kilos each on their backs, back down the mountain. The bamboo is then transported over to the centre. From watching some of a David Attenborough documentary which was showing in one of the buildings (actually a toilet area) we learn that the centre was never intended for tourists but simply to assist with breeding. They centre also 'loans out' pandas to other zoos across the world for 1million dollars a pop - with the rule that the pandas belong to china - including any babies that are born outside china - and they have to return to china eventually. These fees, the combination of research from across the world, and tourism the centre brings, results in the assistance for the pandas being able to continue. The long term goal is for the pandas to be released back into the wild, this has only been attempted once and was unsuccessful.
Being brought up in the centres, the pandas seem unable to remember how to actually go about mating and most if the time the females are artificially inseminated. Female pandas are only on heat for a few days in the spring and even then, there's only a few hour window for pregnancy. They are also very choosy about who they mate with.
When a panda is born it weighs just 100g and the mother with normally give birth to 2, but will always abandon one of them. It's thought she is unable to look after more than one. In the wild, the unlucky cub is left to die however in the centre, they swap the cubs up to 10 times a day so they can both benefit from mums care - Incubators are also used.
We walk round the park and are lucky to catch some feeding times and a few active cubs doing things like rolling off the bamboo frames. We manage to see adult pandas, some cubs, some newborns and some red pandas, which look more like a cross between a fox and a raccoon.
By midday most of the pandas have retired into the air conditioned rooms and it's hard to see them through the misty windows - it's good we came so early.
We spend the rest of the afternoon getting some bits for the train journey tomorrow and a new charger for Yasmin's camera.
We're sitting in the common area of the hostel.. When who walks in.. Only the Barnsley lad from datong. I hope I've hidden my disappointment that he's caught up with us. He talks to us (well, talks to yas and Irritates me) for the next few hours until we escape and go to bed.