Panda Breeding Center 8 May 2007

Before leaving Chengdu, we visit the Panda Breeding Center, which I am informed, is a huge tourist attraction for the city. People actually fly here from all over the world specifically to see it and I didn’t even realize it was on the itinerary.

We are fortunate that Louise is with us at the center. She is a Smithsonian field biologist based in Bolivia and knows a woman who works here. She places a call and we are greeted by Copper, a veterinarian from Kansas who is just completing a four year research stint into panda reproduction. Essentially, Copper has been studying panda sperm for a long time now. She takes us on a tour of her lab and shows us how sperm is stored in dry ice tanks and what it looks like under a microscope. Let’s just say there isn’t a lot of motility on the slide I see, just a couple of slow swimmers flopping around. This could explain the fertility issues associated with pandas, especially in captivity.


After visiting the lab, Copper takes us around the facility and talks to us about the pandas, which are divided into age groups and gender. Some of the older pandas are “retired” from reproduction, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get their motors running from time to time. Preventing revved panda motors is the reason for their segregation. Apparently, pandas can become unusually aggressive during sex.

We are offered the opportunity to hold a baby panda. Really, it would have been more like sitting next to one with plastic gloves on my hands since the baby weighs more than me. Because the price is 1,000 yuan or a little over $130, we all decline.

It is clear that this is an impressive research facility and, if you ask me, the pandas are pretty darn cute. The term “eats shoots and leaves” does not convey the constancy of this reality for the adults. They are incredibly adept at splitting the bamboo shoots and munching them down like giant bread sticks while sitting, lying, hanging; whatever feels good at the moment.

The babies have another priority. They like to play. They are very entertaining to watch wiggling up the trees and pliantly flopping about until they fall or miraculously manage to right themselves, whichever comes first. Life is literally a playground for the babies.

We don’t stay long and we see a lot of foreigners. More foreigners than pandas, in fact.