Hailey Wallace on collecting panda personality data-

The pandas here at Bifengxia are all phenomenal, each in their own way. My personal favorite is Qiao Qiao. Since the first time I laid eyes on her she captivated my attention with her small body and curious eyes. Qiao Qiao has a very gentle personality and seems to captivate everyone around her. Her keepers can often be seen hand feeding her pieces of bamboo or panda bread.

Let me tell you a little about my experiences with Qiao Qiao. Just this week I presented her with the mirror, which immediately grabbed her attention. She inquisitively investigated it at first, then began to reach her forepaws through the bars, trying to reach “the panda in the mirror”. Once realizing that reaching the mirror was unobtainable, she began to look into the mirror, and then somersault towards it. She then started to stretch her little body as high as she could, grabbed onto the bars, and cage climbed! This was a sight to see, and it was also my first experience seeing a cage climb, luckily I was able to snap a picture in the moment. Once her trial was over, and I departed with the mirror, she seemed a little sad to see her “new panda friend” leave, but I assured her that I would be back soon with another enrichment item.

Qiao Qiao is such a sweet heart.

On Monday, I presented her with an iceblock, filled with frozen apples. She seemed interested at first, and then continued to walk past the iceblock, only pawing at it a few times, walked straight towards me, sat down and stared at me. I was able to capture a picture of her sticking her nose through the cage bars, as she ignored the iceblock. I was a little surprised that she wasn’t more interested in it, considering her fascination with the mirror, but I enjoyed observing her nonetheless.

I feel extremely lucky to have the opportunity to work with these amazing animals on a daily basis, they will forever have a place in my heart, even when I’m no longer in China.