Pandas, pandas, pandas!

Our prime reason for visiting Chengdu was to visit the panda preserve there. Chengdu is the panda capital of the world. It has a large research station and breeding ground located very close to the city and apparently is the focal point of managing the 1,600 remaining pandas in the world.  It was opened in 1987 and then opened to the public in 1995.  China does a magnificent job with it's zoos and animal preserves.  Lots of anaimals so there is always something to see. We arrived in the morning which is the best time to see the bears and we were not disappointed!

I was able to hold a young panda and the experience was amazing! The employees are very careful with the care of the animals and anyone holding a panda was required to put on a gown, plastic gloves and shoe covers. This little guy was perfectly happy in your arms as long as he had a stick of bamboo covered in honey. Talk about fuzzy! This "little" guy was born lst August. In terms of panda babies he has come a long way in these 8 months

The baby pandas that are old enough to be put in the public enclosures spend much of their time in the trees. Naps are taken there and all kinds of playing much to the entertainment of those of us watching them.  They have so much personality!  The panda I held is probably one of these.

There were all ages of people visiting and this one was one of the cutest.

These are "lesser pandas" and they were the size of very chubby foxes and quite striking.  And yes, they were loose and walked the same trails as the humans. We all moved out of the way quickly when they passed. Notice the claws.

Life is quite stressful for the adults as these pictures attest.

Most of their diet consists of eating bamboo. Since they only digest 20% of what they eat, they spend much of their time eating. The employees spend much of their time washing and preparing the bamboo sticks. We had a great time there!