A short dissertation on the panda

During the holidays, I was fortunate enough to visit Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan (Szechuan) province in China. Perhaps not a well known city in the West, Chengdu is however an enormous metropolis of about 14 million people (4^th most populous city in China, which is saying something) and a history stretching back over 4,000 years. It is known as the Hibiscus City and has many cultural, historical and natural beauty.

The impossibly beautiful Jiuzhaigou

Leshan Buddah - the largest such statue in the world

Find the fish among the chili

With the recent addition of the biggest building in the world (it can fit 3 Pentagons), it's a place worth visiting. Perhaps the two most famous things Sichuan is known for are its delicious food, famous world wide for its relentless and irresistible spices and being the place where wild pandas live.

No doubt contemplating the universe

Pandas are perhaps one of the most sought after and well-known animals. It is a creature full of contradictions – even the two-toned colouration speaks of light and shade. Whilst anatomically a carnivore, belonging to the bear family, it chooses a most unsuitable vegetarian diet made up of almost invariably bamboo. Their carnivorous stomachs are not capable of extracting much nutrient out of its chosen diet so it has to spend most of their day eating a lot of it. With only about 1,500 left in the wild, this doesn't leave much time to procreate. It has 5 fingers and a ‘thumb’ – an extended sesamoid bone which helps it hold bamboo. Being so bumbling and inefficient, it’s a wonder that it isn't already extinct.

Visiting the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center on the outskirts of Chengdu, I was lucky to see pandas at their perhaps most active – four pandas in a slow-motion, fluffy wrestle of extreme low ferocity. It’s bumbling, torpid demeanour and plump, circular frame, along with its insatiable appetite and adorable way of eating bamboo leaves (very methodical and surprisingly prim and proper) easily makes it one of the most popular attractions.

Much has been done for the conservation of pandas including the use of artificial insemination to ensure reproduction of the new generation and avoidance of incest.  China has also been using the panda in what has become known as ‘Panda diplomacy’, where pandas are lent, at exorbitant prices, to zoos around the world.

Panda’s fame has seen to it that this lovable creature has been woven into the fabric of popular culture. Whilst restoring numbers in the wild is difficult due to deforestation and loss of habitat, the will and yearning to conserve this unique mammal has etched itself into the consciousness of the world and most importantly, the children, who are invariably enamored with this cuddly bear. May the panda thrive and flourish. 

Po from Kung Fu Panda

Unbeknownst to most, the subspecies of panda, the Qilin panda, with its reddish fur

Panda-kun from the Japanese anime Polar Bear Cafe

The logo of the World Wildlife Fund - the panda was chosen party because black and white would save on printing costs

Chilling out in its natural habitat