Panda Travel
We are not the only inhabitants on this blue celestial body where we live. Among the lofty and precipitous peaks in Sichuan Province of China lives a lovely animal -- giant panda, which is called "living fossil". It is a primeval species. Whether they can survive on this earth or not is an ordeal to us human beings.
The emblem animal of World Wildlife Fund is "Giant Panda", the lovely, fragile primeval species, upon which the world focuses its attention. They live and breed on this beautiful celestial body much earlier than we human beings. However, at present, human beings are shouldering the arduous responsibility of protecting giant pandas!
Giant panda enjoys a reputation of "living fossil". As the unique animal species in China, they only survive in a narrow region where Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and China inland march with each other. The panda is also known as giant panda, bamboo panda or floral panda. Its scientific name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca and English name is giant panda. It belongs to Ailuropodidae family. At present giant pandas are the first grade animals under the state protection, which are distributed in local areas of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu in China. They have mild temperament and lovable behavior, with a simple and naive look. They are one of people's favorite wild animals. They body length is 120-180cm. Tail length is 10-20cm. The weight is 60-110kg. They have round and big head. Except five clawed toes, the anterior soles of the feet have a sixth toe. The trunk and tail are in white, ears, rim of the eyes, four limbs and scapulo are all in black. The stomach is in light brown or gray black.
Please click to view the illustration of Panda's grown up
Giant panda lives in mountainous bamboo forest such as deciduous broad-leaved forest, needle and broad-leaved mixed forest and subalpine needle-leaved forest with a height of 2000-3000m above sea level, without fixed dens. They eat while walking, like moving about separately, and often lie down and sleep under big trees. They have relatively poor vision and are lazy, but can climb on the big trees rapidly and flexibly and swim across turbulent rivers or brooks. Their food is mainly the bamboo shoots and leaves, seldom prey on small animals. The heat periods of giant pandas are in April and May each year. Some of them also mate in autumn. The young per birth is 1, rarely 2.
The flourishing period of giant panda occurred hundreds of thousands of years ago. They had once widely distributed in the East and Southwest China. Along with the great physical change in earths atmosphere and crust change, many contemporaneous animals are extinct in succession, while giant pandas still survive up till now, and maintain original primeval characteristics. That is why they are known as "living fossil". At present, while developing our own survival space, human beings also keep invading the domain of giant pandas. Their living space becomes narrow, only limited to Minshan Mountain Range, Qionglai Mountain Range, local areas of great and small Liangshan mountains and the South Backfall of Qinling Mountains in China and so on, mainly the regions under the jurisdiction of Sichuan Province. Since 1960s, Chinese Government has gradually worked out series of effective measures through legislation in order to better protect this endangered living fossil.
The survival or perishment of giant pandas has attracted people's attention for a long time since Pere David discovered（Please click here to see how Father David discovered Giant Panda） its living body. Chinese scientists have studied their life habit and breeding law since 1950s. At present Chinese Government has selected four virgin forests as nature reserves, which are inviolable living and breeding domain of giant pandas. They are respectively Wolong Nature Reserve, Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve, Wanglang Nature Reserve and Qinling Nature Reserve. Chinese Government has established Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base at the Mount Futou in the northern suburb of Chengdu, Sichuan. Many injured or sick pandas discovered in the field are sent here. They go back to forest after being cured due to scientists's meticulous care. In fact, through the efforts of the scientists, the population number of giant pandas has slowly increased since 1970s, which owes to mature artificial feeding and breeding work for giant pandas. Nevertheless, it has become the primary topic of Chinese scientists how to send these grown pandas to the nature that have survival capacity despite artificial feeding and breeding, and how to make its population breed and grow up under natural state.
Giant pandas can survive hundreds of thousands of years on the earth, which is a miracle itself.If you want to know the five riddles of the giant panda, please click here.
Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, home to more than 30% of the world's highly endangered pandas, covers 924,500 ha with seven nature reserves and nine scenic parks in the Qionglai and Jiajin Mountains. The sanctuaries constitute the largest remaining contiguous habitat of the giant panda, a relict from the paleo-tropic forests of the Tertiary Era. It is also the species' most important site for captive breeding. The sanctuaries are home to other globally endangered animals such as the red panda, the snow leopard and clouded leopard. They are among the botanically richest sites of any region in the world, outside the tropical rain forests, with between 5,000 and 6,000 species of flora in over 1,000 genera.
Woolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve
Fengtongzhai National Nature Reserve
Wanglang National Nature Reserve
Foping National Nature Reserve
How to become a giant panda protection volunteer
Sichuan Wolong giant panda natural protection area welcomes volunteers from all over the world to assist researchers. Actual work is as follows: preparing food, breeding, cleaning panda shed etc.
If you are healthy and love this animal in severe danger, PTT can help you to join Wolong research base as an official volunteer.
PTT accepts application of volunteer who would like to work 1-4weeks in research base. The service Fee PTT collects is 200$ per person. Worker from PTT will accompany you to Wolong base and help you to complete the procedure of registration. 100￥ per day of base management fee and 150￥clothes rent fee is required. During working period, your accommodation is on your own. Fill the form below if interested. We will reply you within 48 hours.
Volunteer Safety Announcements
FAQ on Panda Volunteering Tour
Tracking Information of GPS
The pictures of volunteers of the Giant Panda's protection
