I’ve been on base and annoying the keepers for nearly seven whole weeks. Time flies when you work with pandas. In the seven weeks I’ve been at Bi Feng Xia I’ve made progress on all studies and have finished the maternal observations. There’s still a lot of work to be done but I’m happy with what I’ve completed thus far. There have definitely been set backs, but that’s just the way research goes, even with captive animals.

All maternal observations are completed! I have mixed emotions about this, I’m so happy that I’ve been able to catch all the babies at the right time, but I’m sad that I will no longer be watching the tiniest pandas on earth. However, two hours on cold concrete, my butt is sure happy that they are all done! All in all I’ve watched Hai Zi, Xi Xi, Xi Mei, Ying Hua, Xin Nier, Gong Zhu, Shui Xiu, Feng Yi, Na Na and Ge Ge, and all of their beautiful bubbas. Zhuang Mei is the only exception; I did not get to see her with either of her babies as she is not taking care of them and is yet to learn vital maternal behaviours. At the moment her keeper gives her a toy baby panda to practice on, and he teaches her how to take care of it.

Ge Ge with her baby

The stereotypical study is almost complete! Only two more observations in the afternoon and it will be another study to tick off my list. It is sadly amusing watching the pandas do these outrages stereotypical actions. Some of the more common behaviours include tongue flicking, somersaults, cage climbing, paw sucking, quasi-stereotypic pacing, and stereotypic vocalizations. I was lucky enough to do morning observations on Bai Yang and Fu Wa. After the hour was done their keepers kindly let me feed them panda bread and an apple. I was over the moon about it! Being so close to such a powerful animal and they sedately sit there, wait, and take the food with their mouth and chomp away. I could have sat there and fed Bai Yang and Fu Wa all day long, until they could not eat any longer, unfortunately that’s not exactly how it works.

I’m slowly chipping away at the personality study. With four objects needing to be given to each panda, including blocks of ice that need freezing for two days and basketballs that need buying each time a panda bites and bursts one…it takes time! Lately the pandas have loved the enrichment objects. You You played with the basketball for nearly half an hour, even though she deflated it in the first five minutes. A Ling couldn’t be separated from the block of ice with food inside. She managed to smash it into pieces, also playing with the smaller pieces with no food inside. Qian Qian was the first panda I saw that took the basketball up to her “bed” and played with it. The objects are such a nice way to experience a pandas personality, whether its curiosity, playful, cautious, or aggressive its nice to be able to see behind the analogous black and white pattern and call them an individual.

A Ling with an “fruitcicle” enrichment

I managed to pull myself away from the pandas for a weekend and explore Mount Hailuogou, its about four hours from Ya’an city and well worth the drive. I stayed at the foothills of the mountain in a small town called Moxi Town. It had a very Tibetan feel, coloured flags hung around restaurants and around the streets, wooden balconies on buildings and the most colour inspired jewelry in small stalls that followed pathways. Needless to say I have stocked up on jewelry. I went with a Danish girl who is volunteering at Bi Feng Xia, our eagerness to see more of China found us here, in Moxi Town.

We took a whole day to explore Mount Hailuogou. Up for the walk we set off towards the glacier that Hailuogou is famous for. Formed 16 million years ago this glacier is the lowest lying in the world at 2,850m above sea level and stretches 14.4km long, covering an area of 23.2 square km. The walk took one hour, mainly up stairs, needless to say we were happy to reach the glacier. We walked for a while further on top of and a fair way up the glacier itself. It was amazing. The view was incredible, standing on this glacier and looking up seeing that it keeps going for miles up to Mount Hailuogou itself. Keen to see more Laura and I took the cable car up to the top of the mountain. Up amongst the clouds stood a golden Buddhist shrine, Shingle tower, Avalokitesvara and the monument to the heroes. The same flags that lined Moxi Town streets were abundant on top of the mountain; it had a sense of religion and culture, mixed with happiness and celebration.

The rest of the day was spent walking the streets of Moxi Town, shopping and of course eating. Hailuogou is not a destination I would of normally seen had it not been for this internship, and I am so grateful that I am able to explore the beautiful land and the unique culture that China has tucked away in this vast land of theirs.

-Grace