Pandas in the Chongqing Zoo

Click the above picture to see this cute little fellow full size.

Pandas, a desparately endangered species, are considered a national treasure of China, the only country on earth where they can be found. They are so valued that poachers can be executed for killing a panda for profit. Research centers have been set up to concentrate on finding better ways to breed and raise them in captivity in an attempt to save the species from extinction. It is estimated there are currently less than 1,000 pandas in the wild.

When we got to Chongqing, the end point of our Yangzi River cruise, we made a quick stop at the Chongqing Zoo to see the pandas there. (If you go to China as a tourist, it's pretty certain you'll see pandas somewhere on your trip.) We were quite rushed (as we were so often during the trip) - we basically walked into the zoo, saw the pandas, then left.

As planned by our tour guide, we got there just as the three pandas were being fed. He said that if we didn't get there right at feeding time, we probably wouldn't get to see them (I guess they go inside.) Fortunately, they were quite animated as they rolled around eating their bamboo. Here are some pictures I quickly took.

Click on a picture to see it full size.

A red panda, a lesser known member of the panda family. We've seen these in U.S. zoos before.	Much of the pandas' white fur was dirty brown. The brownest of them all, this one was rolling all over as he chomped away on his dinner.	A pretty large pile of bamboo awaits this panda. They are fed twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. This was their afternoon feeding.	Just chomping away. They're amazingly cute, and really love their bamboo!
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