Hi everybody, Doireann Ferris here- 

Now that our internship with PDXWildlife is coming to an end I am heartbroken, but proud that all our hard work has paid off and all of the panda personality trials have been completed. Each of us 4 interns ran 10 trials on each of the pandas in our study. During this time we got a well rounded picture of the individual personalities of the pandas. I was amazed by how truly different and unique each panda’s personality is. I had expected personalities to differ depending if they were reared by their mother, hand reared or born in the wild. However, there are huge differences in personality between every single panda. Even siblings raised in similar conditions such as Wen Yu and Xi Dou have very different personalities and have very different reactions to our trials. 

From all the trials there is one personality that stands out dramatically to me from all the rest and that is the handsome boy Wu Jun. Wu Jun is 8 years old. He was born in Wolong Breeding Center and was hand reared. He is the son of Ye Ye and my favourite panda of all, Wu Gang.  After studying Wu Jun, he fast becomes one of your favourites because of his expressive personality. It is very easy to study Wu Jun because he is an open book, as his feelings towards the enrichment items are plain to see. It is very obvious when he is happy and enjoying the trials and it is equally obvious when he is not comfortable or enjoying the trial. 

When Wu Jun is happy, which thankfully is most of the time, he becomes very playful. He especially likes to play in his bed. He climbs into his bed and tumbles and rolls around in it. He also likes to carry bamboo up into his bed so he can have a snack there after all the tiring play. Wu Jun is a big fan of the ball trial. He likes to hit the ball with  his front paws and chase after it. During the last ball trial I did with him, he took his ball from his indoor enclosure into his connecting outdoor enclosure, through the underground tunnel. He then happily played with his ball outside and after the playing was done, I had the task of retrieving the ball from the far end of his outdoor enclosure. My thanks for all those branch scrapes Wu Jun! 

Wu Jun is however also known as ‘temper bear’ and serves as a reminder that pandas are wild animals with wild animal instincts. This is because when he is unhappy he expresses it clearly. During the mirror trial Wu Jun was not to pleased to see what he thought was another panda. He began to climb the walls of his enclosure with amazing precision and speed. He sprinted in short bursts around his enclosure, showing off his dominance. He also jumped on his bamboo while biting and shaking it great ferocity. Thankfully only bamboo was harmed in these trials and the playful Wu Jun returned to us shortly after the ‘other bear’ in the mirror was removed.

It has been an absolute pleasure to work with PDXWildlife and all the pandas at Befengxia. I am honoured to know each panda so in depth and to have seen all the many different panda personality types. I have had so much fun getting to know my new friends, both panda and human. This has been the best job ever but as they say it’s not work when you love it!