Amélie near Cui Cui, a female aged 7 years – New breeding center – July 1, 2013
As is typical of our internship program, Amelie’s first week proved to be very busy filled with inter-observer reliability tests, tours of Ya’An, and a meeting with a Pambassador, Jérôme Pouille!
If you aren’t aware of Pambassadors, they’re individuals who have competed and won the Chengdu Pambassador competition. Winner are dedicated to bringing a message of conservation education in the form of a “World Tour for the conservation of the giant panda” in China and the big ten countries hosting pandas in captivity.
Read about Jérôme’s visit here. Amelie also reports that pandas are starting to have lots of babies! Xi Xi just gave birth yesterday and Amelie promised she’d get me pics of some of the older babies that have already been born.
Stay tuned . . .
-Meg
Xi Xi just gave birth yesterday ???
Xi Xi just gave birth yesterday (9 July)???
That’s what it sounded like from Amelie’s last email – it looked like she was going into labor as she left the base last night. She said she’d update me as soon as she got in today (which should be soon)! Yay!
Xi Xi gave birth on 10 July 2013 BFX time. Here’s the announcement:
http://www.chinapanda.org.cn/blog.php?id=1167
Xi Xi gave birth to a single cub, gender not yet determined on July 10 at 5:21 pm (China time). Xi Xi mated successfully with Yuan Yuan on April 19 and 20.
http://www.chinapanda.org.cn/blog.php?id=1167
Thanks Meghan for this article and for sharing my encounter with Amélie. I hope the situation is good in Ya’an and Bifengxia because we had a lot of rain in Chengdu.
Amélie says that there is lots of flooding in the neighboring towns but Ya’An is still standing! As always I’ve told her to keep her safety at the forefront of her priorities (research can always wait!). She said she really enjoyed your visit and I loved reading your article and seeing the pictures.