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In the steep bamboo forests of South Central China is one of the most remarkable creatures on earth.
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The giant panda has been intertwined with Chinese culture for over 2000 years and was once the property of emperors.
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This singular species has become a symbol of Wildlife Conservation worldwide.
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They've been pushed out of the lowland areas of China and now only exist in a tiny sliver of their former range.
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Only 2000 or less remain in the wild.
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For years, China has used these beloved pandas for diplomacy, loaning them to zoos around the world.
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China and the United States share a remarkable amount of cooperation in key areas like Wildlife Conservation.
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Now there's renewed urgency to save the giant panda, and China has sent 2 new pandas to the San Diego Zoo in Southern California.
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And as a bear ecologist myself, I just can't wait to learn more about these amazing animals.
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So who's over here?
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So over here we have Shinbao.
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Giant pandas are absolutely dependent on bamboo for their survival.
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They eat about 40 lbs of bamboo a day.
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You'll start to see all these different ways they process different parts of the bamboo.
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They get different nutrition from different parts.
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One of the other things that is really setting pandas apart from other bears in terms of their Physiology are those thumbs.
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Yes.
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Wow.
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Yeah.
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I mean, it makes me think of like, like a gorilla, right?
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Like a primate almost.
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They're not opposable thumbs.
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They're, we call them pseudo thumbs, you know, which means sort of a fake thumb.
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And it's actually an extension of their wrist bone.
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And what it does is it allows them to hold bamboo in a way they couldn't if they didn't have that.
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I can't help but notice those strong fangs that she's got.
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Giant pandas we think of as these cute, cuddly, you know, docile bears.
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But they are bears.
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They are absolutely bears.
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They actually have the strongest bite force of any of the bears, which I think is really shocking to people.
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But if you look at some of the, you know, the thicker pieces of bamboo, and sometimes they're 3 inches across, and a giant panda can just bite through that like it's butter.
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The San Diego Zoo has a history with pandas.
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They received their first pair from China in 1996.
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In fact, they're the first zoo in America to successfully raise panda Cubs.
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One of the most spectacular things I've witnessed in my time here is that when a panda cub is born, they're pink with just the littlest bit of white fur.
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They look a lot like a rat, I hate to say, you know, about the size of a stick of butter.
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And then about two weeks into their development, they start getting black patches where their black fur will come in, and it's just amazing.
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The San Diego Zoo also pioneered new techniques, like creating a new milk formula to help newborn Cubs thrive in human care.
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There's this beautiful history of giant pandas here at the San Diego Zoo.
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What is your ultimate hope for them here?
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So my hope over the next 10 years is that we make meaningful contributions to the continued conservation of giant pandas, as well as inspire the next generation of conservation professionals.
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Well, it's worked for me, that's for sure.
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I mean, just watching them has made me a panda believer.
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Yes, it's, it's hard to resist.
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They are so, so charismatic.
