The origin of this species is apparently still somewhat mysterious ...
We arrived very early in the morning, and were whisked off to the centre for breakfast and a video on the difficulties of supporting pandas to reproduce -- to quote one informed Melbourne source, this is a species that just doesn't seem to want to survive. (To be fair, Josh, it does eat a range of types of bamboo, it just prefers toast and vegetate.)
However, they do have an extraordinary appeal, driving some visitors -- who were supposed to be in Shanghai -- to make helpful donations to gain a cuddle ...
Despite our early arrival, it was already very hot and humid as we walked around, leading to the purchase of extra t-shirts, and driving most of the adult pandas back inside into cooler enclosures and out of view, while fortunately the teenagers lolled around, not worried about possible sunburn...
We also saw some relatively newborns. Child protection laws prohibited photos being taken however.
But as in zoos worldwide, when the giant pandas fail to appear, you can always get serious footage of the reliable reds, walking their territories.
Other Chengdu highlights included a show, including an amazing display of changing faces. Sorry about the photos; you had to be there (or have seen it on BBC2).
- Posted from as Phuket as we get
No comments:
Post a Comment