| First it was Wolong Giant Panda Preserve & now Bifengxia Panda Preserve | ||
Picture yourself playing with a herd of real live Giant Pandas!
Giant Pandas live in heavily forested mountains above 5,000 foot elevation. In the summer they move up the mountain to cooler weather. In the winter they move down to warmer temperatures. The forests where the Pandas live consist of a combination of conifer and deciduous trees with an undergrowth of rich densely packed delicious bamboo. The trees provide housing for the pandas. Partially hollowed tree bottoms provide shelter and a home for sheltering newborn babies from the harsh environment outside. Look for a major overhaul of this webpage sometime in August. Following our July tour we will be placing the latest photos online here of Bifengxia and the activities there. |
Wolong
was the one panda preserve in all of China that excelled far
beyond all the others at breeding the Giant Panda. Researchers
here have made more advances in artificial breeding and raising
pandas in captivity than
anywhere in the world. The biggest years for babies was in 2007
when 16 were born and then 2008 when 19 were born. Bifengxia has taken over as the pre-eminent panda breeding center. Most of the Wolong pandas were relocated here following the May 2008 earthquake. The administration, research and panda keeping staff also was relocated here to try and preserve the high quality research and breeding program.
Click here to view recent photos of mother and baby pandas at the preserve |
Below is a photo of a red panda. Racoon-like and smaller than the Giant Panda.
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| In the past hunting was the number one cause of reducing the Giant Panda population to critically low numbers. In more recent times, hunting has been severely regulated by the Chinese government. Now the threat is from habitat destruction. As the population of the towns in the Panda areas has increased the Panda habitat has decreased. Villagers have cut firewood in the forests and steadily reduced the area of forests. The Chinese government has implemented regulations and incentives designed to stop this deforestation. |
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Giant Panda Quick Facts - - Life span about 25 years - -Grow to 42" tall & 350 pounds - -Normally only 1 baby is raised to maturity although 2 or 3 may be born. - -Food is mainly 4 bamboo species - - They have the digestive system of a carnivore, so they must eat 12 to 16 hours a day to consume adequate nutrition because their systems cannot process vegetation very well. - - DNA studies place them more closely related to the bear family, not the racoon family, but they now are listed in their own family. - -They do not hibernate. Instead they move up and down the mountainside to regulate thermally. |
Gray whales, Tigers, Elephants,
Giant Panda Bears, Blue whales, Whale sharks, Narwhals China, Canada, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Philippine Islands, Mexico, Arctic Circle copyright 2007, Keith Jones No images may be used without written permission of copyright holder California registered seller of travel #2055660-50 Unique vacations normally involving animals, culture and adventure keith@greywhale.com or rowman1998@yahoo.com |
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