Image courtesy of Panda International
Today was a big day up at the base. Wu Jie (five years old) and Hu Bao (three years old) will be moving to Singapore for a nice ten year visit. The Singapore team has visited Ya’an five times over the past two years to get everything figured out for their two new pandas. To celebrate the panda’s new adventure the base had a nice ceremony. It included everything from dancers dressed as pandas to a Chinese opera singer. There was much cheering, singing, and lots of picture taking and news cameras. Spirits were very high.
Image courtesy of Panda International
Meanwhile, on this auspicious day, on the other side of the base in the breeding center there was a new addition to the Bi Feng Xia family. Ying Hua gave birth. Though I was unable to see the baby (due to the fact that she was holding him tight) and we’re not allowed to take pictures of them at such a young age, I was able to hear him call to his mother. Even though Ying Hua was transported from Beijing and wasn’t part of our reproductive study this year, I’m very excited to watch this new little guy grow for the rest of my time here.
Over all it has been an eventful day, and I couldn’t think of a better way to end it then have a nice bowl of spicy beef noodle soup at Mr.Cheng’s Restaurant.
-Kim
