The star of this post is Jin Ke 津柯 (#743), or as John likes to call him, Janky. This stud muffin was born July 15th, 2009, which makes him 8 years old. Both his mother, Baixue, and father, Ping Ping, were wild-born. Sadly, both passed away in 2015. Jin Ke was born right here in Bifengxia, and after short stays in Langzhong Zoo and Dujiangyan Panda Base, returned home in February 2015. He is currently staying in Old Breeding Center 3, which is a spacious bachelor pad with lots of vegetation, a mini-fountain, and some much deserved privacy because a popular guy like Jin Ke needs a break now and then.
Full body shot of Jin Ke.
Outside view of Old Bear 3.
Jin Ke has certainly made a name for himself as the go-to breeder, and I think he has a bright future ahead of him. His mother was a highly successfully breeder back in her day. Jin Ke has a strong physique, as you can tell from the picture below. He’s definitely a character because unlike a lot of the other bears, Jin Ke doesn’t care much for humans. We seldom get to see him up close when he’s outside – the closest he’s gotten to us during stereotypical observations, was about 4 meters. He likes playing hard to get.
Jin Ke yawning after waking up from a nap.
Jin Ke is has some interesting stereotypical behaviors – some of his favorite things to do are truncated somersaults, bleats, tongue flicks, and pacing. My favorite thing Jin Ke does, is when he goes over to the window that he shares with Shen Bin, and they’ll both stand on either side of the window with their paws up against the glass. I mean, who can resist this guy…oh Romeo.
Jin Ke up against the window that separates him from Shen Bin.
Also, I matched with Jin Ke on the Panda Personality Quiz. Not sure what that says about me, or him.
Jin Ke taking a drink from his fountain.
______________________________________________________________
Mingfei Li is studying giant pandas from December to February at Bifengxia working on the stereotypical and maternal care studies.
Thank you for posting this! Wonder why he doesn’t like humans!? He is a “hunk”! I’d love to see more about him! Keep up the good work!
Sincerely, JoAnn Mann
I think this can be chalked up to personality differences. Sometimes bears are just more “stand offish”. It may be because of a past experience or it could just be that he’s shy! Since both his parents were wild-born it may be a little more in his genetics to be less human oriented. We’re doing domestication studies currently to see if personality has shifted with more generations in captivity. Can’t wait to see the results!!
Great story and great pictures. A bit sad that we do not see Shen Bin responding to Jin Ke’s interest…
I have a question, I thought that OB was standing for Old Breeding Center. I have never heard of Old Bear…
Jin Ke and Shen Bin are not old! 😉
Danielle, Yes it does stand for Old Breeding Center! Thanks for the catch – I’ve updated the post. Though Mingfei speaks Chinese so maybe she knows something I don’t 😉
It is Old Breeding Centre! 🙂
Yes! I would have loved it if the camera angle captured that too! I have a picture from my early days where both bears are glued against the glass with their paws up – so cute!
This is a good report on Jin Ke. He’s turned out to be quite the ladies man; even when he was young, the human ladies adored him. He is so handsome. I am hopeful that he is not overbred although I can see where he could be since it seems the female pandas like him.
I have a question: When Jin Ke and Shen Bin meet at the glass, do they vocalize at all? If they do, are the vocals affiliative or non?
Also, would Shen Bin live in the yard to the right of Jin Ke?
Thank you. I enjoyed this very much.
In addition he has lots of wild genes so that makes him a better genetic match for many of our captive pandas. I’ll have to let Mingfei answer the vocalization questions – my guess going into the breeding season is that they’re affiliative 😉
Hi Charlene,
Thank you for your comment. Shen Bin is in Old Breeding Centre 2, which is to the left of Jin Ke when you’re looking from the inside pen. When they’re both against the glass, they will vocalize back and forth so I’d say they’re affiliative.
He looks wonderful! There’s a rumor he was the late Peanut’s father? Not sure if that’s true. He looks lovely. I hope he sires more offspring, but not as many as Pan Pan, that’s too many imo. Shame he doesn’t like humans, but some pandas don’t I suppose.
Another question, if I have a photo request where would I put it? I’m not exactly sure where this panda is at the moment though. I’m pretty sure he’s at BFX though. Yuan Yuan stud number 488 (Wen Yu’s father?)
Here is a good place to put it! I’ll also forward to my interns and see if the can write a post on him if they find him and he’s in a public area 🙂 Thanks for commenting!