Grace left Bi Feng Xia right before Thanksgiving here in the states.  Her departure marked the official end of data collection on our panda project.  There’s a little bit of sadness in seeing this project wrap up as I’ve had so much fun with it! (I promise to post all my funny pictures in a series coming up next year).  Here’s Grace’s last words on her internship! Enjoy! – Meg

“My time at Bi Feng Xia is coming to an end. I cannot believe that three months has passed so quickly. I’m definitely going to miss this place!

In the last few weeks here I’ve been able to tick off every study on my list. The maternal was the first to be completed a while ago, the stereotypical observations finished with Fu Wa and Wu Jun, both very cooperative pandas. After 9 basketballs, 3 large metal bowls and 12 plastic buckets the personality study was complete. I was a little bit sad to have accomplished the finishing touches on this study. Experiencing each pandas personality up close, daily, for three months, it was a little heart breaking to know that I will no longer be able to see them in this way again. Some pandas loved my enrichment objects, some really didn’t care, but the fact that each panda is so individual in their response really put a smile on my face. I will remember the pandas by how they interacted with the enrichment objects, loved them or hated them the reaction was theirs and only theirs.

Top left clockwise: Tong Tong not interested once he deflated the basketball, Gou Gou sleeping next to the bowl & Yi Bao giving the cold shoulder to the ice block.

Top left clockwise: Fu Wa being inventive with his enrichment object, A Ling couldn’t be separated from her block of ice with food inside & Mei Sheng searching for more.

The very last personality observation was done on Qian Qian, she has been very interesting to work with. The very first observation I did on Qian Qian was with Amelie, the previous intern. We stood in the pouring rain for an hour and watched her sleeping through a foggy window. Next I gave her the basketball and she loved it, took it up to her “bed” and played with it. She didn’t care much when I gave her the bowl with fruit inside, she tipped it upside down poured the water out and didn’t touch it again. Her keeper said she dosen’t like apples, but she didn’t even touch the carrots. She also managed to open her door at minute 37 cutting my observation short. I tried to give her the ice-block with food inside, but she’s a smart one and opened her door again after only 7 minutes! Her keeper was in her outdoor enclosure, we managed to get him out without Qian Qian noticing; she was far too interested in walking towards the bamboo. From then on we locked the door to her outdoor enclosure. I managed to do the bowl, the ice-block with food and without food again. She slept for most of the time, not caring about the enrichment objects.

Qian Qian with no care in the world – especially not for my enrichment objects

Meghan put me to work on a few side projects while I’ve been here. The main one was to collect pen enrichment data on each panda; I needed to observe what, if any, enrichment the keepers gave their pandas. After a few days of no enrichment I saw bamboo standing upright in plastic holders in the ground. One keeper said they do this every 4 days to make the bamboo resemble that of a forest. I like this idea, and I think they should do it more often. No objects were given to any panda though.

Enrichment for the pandas – Bamboo standing in plastic holes

Another project that Meghan gave to me was to sort through three years of panda fecal samples and get specific dates for a few male pandas to be sent to a lab in Chengdu. One of my most favorite jobs that Meghan ever gave me! I’m just lucky that panda waste is basically just bamboo so the smell is not bad at all. This job proved difficult at times, the amount of poo that I had to look at and sift through was incredible. An experience in itself! I’m not yet finished with this job, but hopefully I will find the missing samples to complete the set.

Only a fraction of one pandas fecal samples I sorted

The other day I decided to take a break to experience some Chinese culture. I went to Shang Li Ancient Town, which is only a short bus trip outside of Ya’an downtown. It is a beautiful place and it was so nice to experience what China would have been like decades before. The wooden buildings lined the river while the stone pathways showed you around the small village. It is lined with tourist shops now selling jewelry, trinkets, ornaments, tea, dried fruit, and toys, but it didn’t seem to spoil the atmosphere, it fit in perfectly well. There were plenty of restaurants and small “cafes” where you can sit by the river and drink tea. The place was lively with Chinese tourists and those that lived there. I was the only westerner to be seen. I decided to try out some new foods from people cooking on the streets, some I liked, some not so much, but it was definitely an experience. I bought myself some things to remember this place with and walked around the town for a couple of hours before deciding to head back to the hustle and bustle of Ya’an.

The beautiful buildings hanging over the river at Shang Li Ancient Town

The streets of Shang Li

The streets are full of interesting foods – I don’t even think that guy knows what it is!

Walking around the outskirts of Shang Li

I grabbed a deep fried mystery from this lovely Chinese woman

So what’s next for me? Ill be showing my mum, sister and friend around Bi Feng Xia on Monday and then ill leave the base once and for all. It will be sad to leave such a beautiful place but I’m excited for the times I have ahead of me. I’m truly grateful for the experiences I’ve had at Bi Feng Xia and humbled by these amazing creatures. If you’ve ever spent time with a giant panda up close you’ll know what I mean. If you haven’t then I highly recommend you take the opportunity if it ever arises. I’ll be traveling around China for another month and I cant wait to experience more uniquely inspiring places. In late December I’ll be starting another internship in Panama working with primates. I’ll never forget my time at Bi Feng Xia, the people I’ve met and the experience I’ve gained, it has been absolutely amazing and truly eye opening in both culture and conservation.”

Thanks Grace for being such a great intern!  PDXWildlife will miss you!