Panda Crazy

(The Giant Panda, Global Megastar)

By Jon Isaacs

Whilst Aleksandr Orlov of meerkat.com fame may be heading for worldwide domination, there is little doubt that the Giant Panda still remains, for the present at least, at world number one in the animal popularity stakes. Ever since I’ve been alive, the Giant Panda has been an animal known and loved by nearly all of humanity. There are probably more fluffy toy giant pandas in existence than any other toy creature on the planet, and in terms of having a good press, the Giant Panda can do no wrong. You only have to look at the furore caused by Chris Packham with his suggestion that the money spent on preventing the Giant Panda from becoming extinct could be better used in conservation, to realise that the Giant Panda has got us exactly where it wants us, absolutely besotted.

And yet, it’s only since 1869, when the explorer/ naturalist Pierre Armand David sent the first skins to Europe that most of the world knew that such an animal existed. Apparently, even large areas of China knew little of the mammal because it was rarely depicted on Chinese art, and unless living in the mountains where it occurs, was never seen by the majority of China’s population. For scientists too it caused quite a stir, as they couldn’t quite work out how to classify it and which branch of the tree of life it should fit into. Most scientists now agree that it is a bear, if an odd one in that it is a carnivore which eats vegetation, but it appears also, in some of its characteristics, closely linked to racoons.

Whatever its origins there is little doubt that the Giant Panda has been heading down an evolutionary dead end for thousands of years. It is now incredibly limited in what it can eat and how much time it needs to eat ie. 12 hours in a day, in order to survive. The failure of the bamboo crop is a disaster for it, and in the 1970’s, when large areas of bamboo died, many pandas starved to death. The female also suffers from only being receptive to breeding for about 72 hours in a year with a window of 12 hours for successful impregnation. If she doesn’t find in that time a mate that she actually wants to mate with, another year has been wasted. Consequently, it was hardly surprising that after the 1970’s  bamboo failure, there were thought to be less than a thousand Giant Panda in existence.

My own introduction into the world of Giant Pandas began when my parents took me to London zoo in 1959 to see the legendary Chi Chi. She had been acquired in September 1958 after the United States refused her entry. Initially she was to be kept for three weeks, but Regents Park then bought her for £12000 and made a fortune out of exhibiting her. I remember seeing her sitting on a bank behind a moat with her personal keeper feeding her copious amounts of bamboo. She didn’t do anything other than eat, and although undeniably cuddly looking, I did wish she would at least get up and walk about, but such seems to be the way of pandas. She was to remain at the zoo until her death in 1972. Attempted matings with An An of Moscow zoo failed and she is now to be viewed as a stuffed specimen at the Natural History Museum in London; a sad end to a lonely creature. However, on a happier note, she also lives on as the symbol for WWF, for she was the inspiration for Sir Peter Scott’s original version of their emblem, although that has since been modified

My next encounter with pandas came in the 1970’s, again at London zoo, this time courtesy of Mr. Edward Heath and his diplomatic overtures to the Chinese government. At that time China was heavily into sealing alliances by sending pandas as presents and, whilst on a visit to China as P.M. Edward Heath asked for, and received, a gift of two pandas for London zoo. These two were named Chia Chia and Ching Ching and they arrived in 1974. I remember seeing them in their purpose built, glass fronted and brick internal area soon after. They had an adjacent external exercise area, grassed and planted with bamboo. Whilst I watched Ching Ching consuming bamboo in the normal laid back position, Chia Chia was actually moving around, a first in my viewing of pandas. Unfortunately, Ching Ching was to prove sickly and she eventually died in 1985. Chia Chia  had a better life and he moved to Mexico in 1988 where he sired three cubs.

My encounters with pandas then ceased until 2008, when my wife and myself decided on a once in a lifetime trip to China. The trip was amazing, and as well as visiting many of the sights such as The Great Wall, included a day trip to a panda reserve outside Chengdu. For me this was a highlight. We journeyed away from the sprawling city of 24 million, and up a winding mountainous road to the breeding centre. Passing stands of bamboo we arrived at the centre by mid morning, along with many Chinese tourists. The centre was catering for extra pandas that had been removed the previous year from the famous Woolong centre which had been largely destroyed by an earthquake. We soon saw our first adult panda, reclining in a paddock. Needless to say it was eating long stems of bamboo and wasn’t going to move for some time. We walked on past other bamboo planted enclosures containing adults of a fixed age. Consequently one, two, three and four year olds were in separate enclosures, and were to be seen lying or sitting on wooden platforms, sleeping or eating.

 Eventually we reached the crèche where all the young pandas below the age of 8 months were exhibited. This huge area contained climbing apparatus, trees, a pond, grass and the obligatory stands of bamboo. Apart from being incredibly cute, these young pandas were energetic. Forward rolls, chasing pairs, sliding down and falling out of trees, sitting in the pond, gymnastics on the back of a sibling; movement was everywhere. Photographing them made up for the lethargy of all of the adults and it was actually hard to keep up with them, such was their variety of movement. As the time progressed, the humidity soared and with sweat pouring down my face, it was really hard to see clearly through the viewfinder. With their eyes being dark against the black eye patches I was also finding it a problem to get photos in which the eyes could be clearly distinguished from their background. The fact that all the Chinese tourists also wanted to photograph the pandas, but with themselves in the foreground, also added to the difficulty of getting decent shots. Eventually, regrettably, we were asked by our guide to move on as some of our group wished to be photographed holding a baby panda for a £100, the fee going to the panda breeding programme. As this was going to take a bit of organising a couple of us eventually managed to obtain permission to return to the crèche area to take further photos. We were greeted by a transformation in the behaviour of the juveniles. Worn out by the rigorous activity we had witnessed, and possibly sulking because they hadn’t been picked for the photoshoot, they were crashed out on climbing apparatus, in the forks of trees and lying on their backs in the grass. All appeared to be sleeping peacefully, or maybe what I was witnessing was a joint practice for behaving like a grown up panda.

This was my last sight of living Giant Pandas. I think that the cubs are probably the most attractive and photogenic creatures I’ve ever seen. The fact that they made such an impression on me was my excuse for using my remaining yen to purchase a cuddly toy Giant Panda at Beijing airport. Carrying it onto the plane caused much mirth amongst the group members but, secretly, I think many of them rather envied me my purchase. Later, as we flew home I thought about the plight of the Giant Panda and I came to the conclusion that Chris Packham just might have got it wrong. Any creature that can create such a feel good factor and produce so many smiling faces amongst people of such different cultures  is undoubtedly worth saving. The Giant Panda is a global megastar who needs our help but who, in return, is capable of earning vast sums of money as an attraction. Consequently, I believe it can earn its keep in return for the considerable amounts of money that will need to be spent to breed up its numbers. Then hopefully, these captive bred specimens can be successfully reintroduced back into the wild which is where they undoubtedly belong.

Panda Crazy by Jon Isaacs 2011.

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All Photo's Copyright Jon Isaacs 2011

This one's my favorite Jon. (Vince)

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This latest article from Jon Isaacs is so good that I have to apologise to everyone. Jon sent me this article some weeks ago. I am really sorry because this is a brilliant article about Pandas which Jon clearly enjoys so much. I'm certain everyone that saw your cuddly Panda on the air plane was truly envious. Thanks so much Jon, articles like yours make my day. 

Vince De Luca.

Jon's other articles for Wildlife Sketches are listed in the side bar of this blog.