Happy Birthday to Ping Ping and An An

July 6th marks the first birthday of An An and Ping Ping the first pandas to be born in 2008. They are the children of Gou Gou who was transferred to Bifengxia from Wolong after the earthquake on May 12

The staff at Bifengxia hold a birthday party for them.

“平平”、“安安”快乐的享用生日蛋糕 "Flat", "Ann" to enjoy a happy birthday cake

References
CCRGP Blog (translated by Google Translate)

Anniversary of Shi Shi's Death.

Today marks the first anniversary of Shi Shi a very important panda.
I have been asked by Chet if I would mark this occasion with a couple of posts she made about him. Over to you Chet
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Among Pandas: Shi Shi at Guangzhou Zoo

Posted on 4 October 2007 @ 15:41

Malaysia Airlines used to operate direct flights to Chengdu. Used to, but not by the time I was ready for my dream-of-a-lifetime panda trip. But it did have direct flights to other Chinese cities that have direct flights, but on a different airline, to Chengdu.

Which city to fly into? The decision was made for me when I found out that Shi Shi was at Guangzhou Zoo. I would fly into Guangzhou via Malaysia Airlines, stay a couple of days, visit him at the zoo and then fly onto Chengdu via Air China.

Shi Shi, whose name means “Rock” , was a wild-born giant panda rescued and taken to the Wolong Giant Panda Research Centre after being critically wounded in a fight with another male panda. Because of his injuries, he could not be returned to the wild, but was instead chosen to go to San Diego Zoo as part of a research loan.

In the history of giant pandas, Shi Shi holds a special place for being the father of Hua Mei, the first giant panda to be born and to survive to adulthood in the United States. Due to a repeated lack of interest in his female partner, he “mated” with Bai Yun through artificial insemination, a technique that was relatively new for giant panda breeding in the late 1990s. As someone said, thanks to the miracle of AI, San Diego Zoo was able to have a giant panda cub, and Shi Shi was able to become a father, something that probably would not have happened in the wild. Hua Mei is his only known offspring; through her, he went on to become a grandfather three times so far - in 2004, 2005 and 2007.

Earlier this year, there were rumours that Shi Shi had died. Then someone posted on the San Diego Zoo pandablog that he was alive and living in Guangzhou Zoo. I had to make a stop in Guangzhou to see him again.

I’d first seen Shi Shi in person in 2001. One of my favourite pictures from that trip, taken by my friend Bob Lum, shows him focused on his food despite the presence of a bird in his space.

I got ready for my trip, and in my luggage was an 8×10 enlargement of this picture which I hoped to present to his keepers at Guangzhou Zoo.

In Guangzhou, I had a bit of problem arranging transport to the zoo until one of the reception staff at the hotel helped me to hire a taxi for the day.

At the zoo, I was a little nervous about finding the giant panda habitat, but I needn’t have. As I strolled towards Shi Shi’s corner of Guangzhou Zoo, I was greeted by one of many bamboo groves surrounding his home.

Further on, a large poster stood at the entrance, with general information about giant pandas and specific information about Shi Shi, in particular his adoption by a Japanese lady who visits him every year.

She is featured in the poster holding paws with him.

As the only giant panda in the zoo, Shi Shi has his own house surrounded on three sides by an outdoor yard. Unfortunately, as I was to confirm with his keeper, he is now totally blind and not allowed to go outdoors in case he can’t find his way back in again. But there is ample space in his indoor enclosure, which he roams with ease and familiarity.

I’d heard about his blindness and how his keepers would bang his metal food dish on the floor so he would know where it is. I’d thought they would do this at a distance for him to walk to his dish. However, as I was to see and hear for myself during my visit with Shi Shi, the keeper went right up beside him to put the dish down with a bang so he would know his food and water has arrived next to him.

Despite his advanced age - he’s now in his 30s - Shi Shi is still a beautiful giant panda, with only a hint of his age when he walks.

I was grateful to have been able to see Shi Shi in person once again, and to take some pictures to share with my panda pals at Pandas Unlimited. I was also able to have a nice chat with one of his two keepers, and to present to her, a picture of a younger Shi Shi during his time at San Diego Zoo.

Passing of an important Panda

Posted on 8 July 2008 @ 11:56

Without him, we would not have Hua Mei and her kids.

Shi Shi, Hua Mei’s father, passed away at Guangzhou Zoo at 20:20 on Saturday, 5 July 2008.

I was honoured to have seen him twice - the first time at San Diego Zoo in May 2001 and the second time at Guangzhou Zoo in September 2007.

Rest in peace, dear Shi Shi. Your work on earth is done.

Shi Shi, San Diego Zoo, May 2001:

Shi Shi, Guangzhou Zoo, September 2007:

References
Chet's Corner

We're still here

Apologies for no posts recently.

It's a very quiet time, the lull before the storm I think as Panda Birthing season is just round the corner.

Another reason why I haven't posted is that I'm working as hard as I can to bring you a bigger better Panda News.

Not only will it feature the news as and when it happens but will also bring you information about the pandas as well. I've been working with Chet and Jerome to bring together information on over 700 pandas.

That is getting to a point where it's ready for you to see.
The first version will be short of pictures of the pandas I'm hoping that is where you will come in, and provide us with photos.

So please talk amongst yourselves whilst we bring it all together.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

By the way, the new site should hopefully appear here when it's ready.

Andi

Happy Birthday to Panda News

Yes Panda News is One today.

What a year it's been, lots of panda cubs born after the horrific earthquake on may 12th.
More and more zoos are trying to obtain pandas and help in their breeding.
My wonderful trip to Bifengxia where I got to look after pandas and see them close hand.

In the coming year there are lots of pandas who were mated in May, and will shortly be due to give birth. Will it be a record year?

Now a little bit of a sneak peak at the new Panda News site.

A new site you ask. Yes. Currently Panda News is hosted by blogger at google, whilst this has been excellent to get the site started, there is so much more I would like to do with it that is not possible to do on Blogger.

I was hoping to have the new site ready to go live today on our first birthday, but I've not been able to get it ready in time, but It's nearly there so instead of going live I'll show a couple of screenshots of the new site.






The new site will still be bringing you the latest news about out beloved Giant Pandas, but you will be able to look up information about the pandas and locations which are featured in the news story.

As part of the celebration for our first birthday, I would like to thank you our loyal reader for your part in this site, many thanks. and even more thanks to those of you that have sent in stories and pictures, and corrected me when I got some details not quite right.

So grab a piece of birthday cake in one hand, and your favourite drink in the others and raise a toast to our wonderful pandas for being there so we can enjoy them together.

Andi

Thailanda Cub to be on display July 4 - 6

Thailand's new giant panda cub will be on display for two shows a day from the 4th till the 6th of July. The cub will be in a glass display, Visitors lucky enough to get in are asked not to touch any animals before coming as they could spread disease.

References
The National

Thailand's Pandas booked up till January.

If you're planning to visit Thailand to go see the new Giant Panda Club and haven't already got a ticket to see them, then you may be in for a bit of a wait, till January next year.

65,000 advanced tickets for this year have already been snapped up. People sometimes pre-book to see various animals before visiting but never on this scale it has been reported.

So you'd better get your ticket soon else it could be a very very long time before you can see her.

References
The Nation

Thailand's pandas to get new winter home

Chiang Mai Zoo has built a new winter home for their pandas "Chuang Chuang" , "Lin Hui" and her newly born cub. The new home is a snow dome where the temperature inside will be a cool minus 5 degrees Celcius.

The pandas are not due to move in till the winter, but visitors should be able to visit from some time this month.

Visitors will enter along a wall built to look like the great wall of china, and inside will be a Chinese-style house.

The only thing left to finish on the new enclosure is the fake snow.

References
Asia One