I started the personality study a couple of weeks ago and so far every panda has had a different reaction to the novel objects. Other than deflating the basketball, Hai Zi showed little interest in either of the novel objects.

Xin Nier interacted with most of the objects for at least a short period of time. She was really interested in the basketball and picked it up, held it for a moment, then proceeded to give it a thorough examination before pushing it down the hill and watching it roll away.

Ying Ping investigated the objects but quickly lost interest and often chose to occupy her time doing other things (including napping next to her enrichment item!).

The stereotypical study was also started around the same time as the personality study. So far, every panda I’ve recorded has displayed some level of stereotypic behaviour.  I’m in the process of gathering video recordings of the stereotypical behaviours I’ve seen and compiling them with labels into a single video. I know that Meg and I have been asked a few times about whether or not we have recordings of the behaviours to help explain the ethogram descriptions, so I’m hoping to have most of the stereotypical behaviours from the ethogram on video before I leave.

Ya’an is famously known as the “rainy city” because it rains about 200 days a year (or so I’ve heard) and it has been living up to its name for the last couple of days. The rainy days are broken up by hot sunny days, but I prefer the rain. The rain makes the mountains look amazing and, when it slows down, brings out a variety of interesting animals and insects.

The rain tends to slow down in the afternoon and I often see tiny frogs, lizards, snakes, caterpillars, grasshoppers, millipedes, and other creatures that I can’t even identify while walking to the panda enclosures.  These animals tend to hide a bit more when it’s hot, so the rain makes the walk a lot more interesting.

On May 29^th, we had 2 film crews at the panda base. I’m not sure, but I think that my blonde hair, research badge, and arms full of research material might have tipped them off that I’m not a tourist and, subsequently, I was interviewed by both of them!  One of them was a film crew for one of the China Central Television (CCTV) channels and the other was an interview for the China Wildlife Conservation Associated (CWRA) that was also going to be aired on a different CCTV Channel.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a little camera shy and I’m sure everyone back home had a good laugh at the thought of me being interviewed for TV! For those of you who don’t know me, here are some pictures of me looking nervous taken right before my interviews.

I have about 3 weeks left in China before I have to return home to Canada, and I’m already sad about not seeing pandas every day (among other things). However, I’m lucky enough to be heading back to Northwestern Ontario where American black bear sightings are common; so I’ll definitely get to see bears once I get home.  They were still in hibernation when I left, so I’m excited to see them in again soon!

-Steph