Edinburgh Zoo (aka The first panda-spotting mission)

Before the trip to Madrid (that involved an additional 400 miles on an already-really-long road trip holiday), we visited Edinburgh Zoo.

Ever since the pandas arrived at Edinburgh Zoo in December 2011, I'd been half-heartedly dreaming about a trip to see them. In April 2012, we flew up for a mini-break. I was very excited about my first panda-spotting holiday.

The middle day of our trip was designated panda day. You have to book a time-slot online, so we had no choice but to head to the zoo even though it appeared to be snowing. I guess that's Scotland for you!

Unfortunately, the pandas weren't exactly playing ball. The female, was comfortably asleep. I could still have happily watched her all day, especially as every now and again she shuffled slightly! After about ten minutes, we were led outside to see the male panda who on cue promptly disappeared back inside. Given how popular the pandas are, the booking system is pretty strict and there was no option to retrace our steps and see him. I was pretty disappointed. I couldn't even book another slot because there wasn't any available.

Tian Tian snoozing :)

So all in all, I got to see one panda sleeping for a few minutes, and didn't really see the other one at all!

On the bright side, I did have a brilliant couple of days away and the rest of the zoo is very well laid-out and I got to see a great range of animals (including the only koalas in the UK). Edinburgh is beautiful.

The only panda we got a decent look at was at the airport!

All in all, the Edinburgh experience was pretty disappointing. The reason the male panda went inside was that the keepers had just filled his enclosure with bamboo and opened the door. They knew that he would disappear, but still led us out to see him. Not great.

Facebook-y goodness

One of my current favourite things is the Chengu Pambassador facebook page.

They basically fill my timeline with cute panda pictures, which make me smile on a daily basis...

See - you have to smile with panda pictures :)

Madrid Zoo

I loved visiting Madrid Zoo. It was an August day and rediculously hot, but who cares when there's pandas involved?

Madrid Zoo has four pandas (parents and two youngsters), which gives the viewer plenty to enjoy! I thought I'd spent about 30mins watching them, turns out it was closer to an hour! Oops...

Pandas really are pretty slow, lazy creatures most of the time. The adults have to spend a lot of time eating because bamboo has very limited nutritional value, and as a general rule they move about very slowly.

The adult male panda spent our visit eating. It was cool to see him manipulate the bamboo with all four paws and grip it with his almost-a-thumb pads.

The female was also eating (read: lying completely covered in bamboo). But she did trundle off outside to play with her water bowl too.

The youngsters were sleepy. One just wanted to lie down with his paw over his face and ignore the world.

Unfortunately for him, his brother was half-heartedly leaning on top of him and rolling around. After a particularly comedic backwards roll where he got stick upside down, the slightly more active one levered himself onto a branch and gently slithered down to the ground, waiting for gravity to do the hard work so he didn't have to :)

It was a- maz-ing!!!

Another snowy panda picture

I know I blogged snowy panda pictures just a couple of days ago, but then I saw this tweeted by @NationalZoo (Smithsonian's National Zoo, Washington DC):

Cutest thing ever!

Toronto panda update!

I have been scouring the web for updates about the Canadian pandas, but it hasn't been as easy as I expected: I remember watching the Edinburgh pandas arrive on the BBC website on a live video feed. Toronto hasn't set up anything so simple. But anyway - they've arrived!

My favourite source is their new twitter feed @TorontoPandas

Here's some of the News Reports on it:

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

TIME NEWSFEED

CP24 (including video clips of the pandas landing in Canada!)

And here's the pandas leaving China:

Panda-y travels

After re-kindling my love pandas in Hong Kong, I started making plans to visit other pandas. So far, my travels have taken me to a couple of other places:

So far, my favourite was Madrid - the set up there is fantastic.

Where will my travels take me next? :)

Snowy photos

It's been amazingly cold this winter/spring. If it wasn't for the calendar then I probably wouldn't believe it's spring at all. I think we've only had one day above 10degC so far this year and it's been snowing all weekend.

Luckily for us, pandas get on "just fine" in the snow...

I love the snow!

Pandas due in Toronto

A pair of giant pandas, Er Shun and Da Mao, are currently in transit and due to arrive in Canada on Monday!

As with all pandas, they are on loan from China as part of their breeding and publicity program. They will spend ten years in Canada, with the first five years at Toronto Zoo and then moving to Calgary Zoo for the next five years.

Similar to the arrival of Tian Tian and Yang Guang in Edinburgh 15 months ago, the pandas will be transported by FedEx.

Tian Tian arriving at Edinburgh Airport. Picture from Chinese Embassy website.

Toronto Zoo has been renovating part of their site to make a specific enclosure for their new residents, including a new education centre about the giant pandas.

It will take about six weeks to settle the pandas, so they will be "on show" to the public in May. Check out the Toronto Zoo website for much more information.

Introduction

Hi there!

Welcome to a blog dedicated to pandas and panda-related paraphernalia from a mildly obsessive panda fan!

Madrid Zoo, 2012