Ryan Boarman at the main Ya’an bridge releasing his lantern near the main bridge.
As Nate mentioned with his fabulous video, our 2015 season started off with a bang! We’re so happy to be back doing what we love; traveling to China and watching pandas mate. Though one of the hardest seasons to be an intern (the workload is heavy, the research pace is fast, and the logistics can be a nightmare), I also believe that winter offers the most opportunities for professional development and networking. In their first two weeks Maria and Ryan got trained on reproductive behaviors of giant pandas, met the San Diego Zoo team (Ron Swaisgood and Megan Owen), met the Smithsonian team (led by Dr. Copper Aitken-Palmer), and went to 2 formal dinners with the Directors of the CCRCGP (Zhang Hemin and Li Desheng). Not to mention all of the logistics of moving to China which included cleaning the apartment, registering with the police, etc. I’ll let them tell you about what has happened since we left but suffice it to say that I think a blog on a visit from Animal Planet and about the ups and downs of setting up a research project are on the way (this is our pilot year for the male-male competition study!).
I have tons of pictures and video from the first two weeks. I was busy not only training the interns but setting up for my new job – it’s official I’ve accepted a post doc with the San Diego Zoo to work on giant pandas more! In this position I was lucky enough to visit the pandas in training for the reintroduction and get pictures of every San Diego Panda and the brand new CCRCGP sites! Which means blogs of Su Lin + baby, Hua Mei + baby, Mei Sheng, Zhen Zhen, and Yun Zi in their new homes are in the works. But first let me share a slide show of Ryan and Maria’s first two weeks:
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-Meg