Up close with Giant Pandas
janaline's world journey

Up close with Giant Pandas!!

Up close with Giant Pandas
Up close with Giant Pandas

Visiting the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding during our China odyssey was definitely an amazing experience. The Chengdu Panda Base, founded in 1987, is a non-profit research and breeding facility for giant pandas and other rare animals. It started with 6 giant pandas that were rescued from the wild. By 2008, it had 124 panda births, and the captive panda population has grown to 83.

The pandas are most active early in the morning so the earlier you can get there the better. We arrived at the base just before 8am well before feeding that takes place around 9.30am. Walking through bamboo covered lanes we arrived at the main pen just as morning feeding was about to start.

Up close with Giant Pandas
The Giant Pandas enjoying their bamboo breakfast
Up close with Giant Pandas
Up close with Giant Pandas

The huge and very slow moving pandas made their way to the freshly packed bamboo where they proceeded to either sit down or lie down and eat as much as they could. They were quite content lying on top of each other as long as they were able to reach the bamboo. Though Giant Pandas belong to the order Carnivora, the panda’s diet is 99% bamboo.

Up close with Giant Pandas
Up close with Giant Pandas

 During the middle of the day they spend most of their time sleeping, particularly during the height of midsummer, so we were quite lucky to be there in the morning and see them at their most active. You could pay and get to actually hold one of the panda cubs if you really wanted to.

Up close with Giant Pandas
Up close with Giant Pandas

At first glance I nearly mistook the red panda for a fox or raccoon! This was my first sighting of these little creatures and I expected them to look a bit more like the Giant Pandas in build. They looked so cute and cuddly!!

Up close with Giant Pandas
Just look at that cute face!

The red panda is slightly larger than a domestic cat. It has reddish-brown fur, a long, shaggy tail, and a waddling gait due to its shorter front legs. It feeds mainly on bamboo, but is omnivorous and also eats eggs, birds, insects, and small mammals. We were quite lucky in that we also got to watch the feeding of these cute little red pandas! 

Up close with Giant Pandas
Up close with Giant Pandas

Its hard to believe that biggest threat seems to these cuddly looking creatures are hunting and poaching. I cant believe that people would want to kill them, they are so beautiful!

Up close with Giant Pandas
Up close with Giant Pandas

37 comments

  1. Those pandas are so cute! I’ve never seen red ones before.
    I think the moment I found out I could pay to hold a panda cub I would be reaching for my wallet 🙂

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    • Thanks Amy Lynne. It was a fabulous experience and the research base with all its bamboo forests is such a beautiful place. If you ever tour China visiting the pandas should definitely be on your agenda!

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  11. We were there in 2012, and my husband and I are panda lovers 😛 , they just look so cute and adorable. Those are very nice pictures you took and thanks for sharing. Have fun in China. Did you try spicy fish? I know you must had Roast Duck, but you got to try the spicy fish, especially in Chengdu. Have fun!

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    • It was an amazing day! Yes we definitely tried Roast Duck but unfortunately I don’t eat very spicy food so trying the spicy fish is not an option for me. I could maybe persuade my mom to try it seeing as she eats spicy food…..

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  16. Stunning shots Jana and they are so adorable! Can’t think how anyone could kill such lovely animals but as usual, for some people money does blind the eye. So sad indeed. Thanks for sharing hon. 😀 *hugs*

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