Hi everyone, this is Doireann Ferris. If you couldn’t tell from the title, I love Wu Gang. Wu Gang is a 17 year old male Giant Panda. He was born in the wild and brought into captivity at the tender age of 1. I first fell in love with Wu Gang when I visited Bifengxia Panda Base in 2012. He was one of the 3 pandas that I was assigned volunteer keeper to. I spent 4 weeks getting to know Wu Gang, during this time I began to recognize some of his unique characteristics. Wu Gang is most recognisable from a pink patch in the middle of his nose, which is different from the typical all-black nose of a panda.
Wu Gang is a very independent panda who is very stubborn and lazy! If he does not want to do something, he simply won’t do it, regardless of how much his keeper would call him, or how much panda bread he was bribed with. The reason I learnt his name so fast was that every day his keeper would call WU GAAAAAN! in mostly failed attempts to cokes him inside. Some days he would sit just outside the door to his bedroom and stare right at his keeper like a brazen teen saying ‘you can’t me what to do’.
Wu Gang enjoying his favorite snack- Bamboo Shoots
Wu Gang has become a prolific breeder here at Bifengxia Panda Base. This year alone Wu Gang has attempted to mated with ~12 females. Most recently, Wu Gang was brought to the rescue when the last fertile female, Ge Ge, wouldn’t mate with either or her neighboring males.
Thanks for reading my first blog post- Doireann Ferris
