Some animals are constantly on the move, whether in the continual search for food or territory, or as part of a seasonal migration. This year, because of the intervention of wildlife conservationists, there are some animals on the move for very different reasons.
The Panda Express
A giant panda named Tai Shan made the news in February 2010 when he emigrated from the USA to China. He was moved from the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC to join a breeding programme run by wildlife conservation experts at the Bifengxia Panda Base in Ya’an, Sichuan. Tai Shan s intercontinental blind date and breeding plan is so high profile that he has even attracted a sponsorship deal from a car company.
A special FedEx plane was chartered to transport him and a panda called Mei Lan, from a zoo in Atlanta, to China, a journey taking fifteen hours. On the flight, dubbed “the Panda Express”, were about 18 kilos of bamboo, pears and apples to keep him occupied. He was not anaesthetized for the journey because expert wildlife conservationists allowed him to get used to his cubicle long before it was time to leave. He will be given a month to settle in before he is introduced to the Chinese public.
Tai Shan was born in America in July 2005 to Chinese parents. He is the first cub that the zoo has successfully raised to this stage of maturity. Scientists used artificial insemination in his conception with the help of Chinese zoologists who loaned his parents to the U.S. for that purpose. As part of the project, it was negotiated with the China Wildlife Conservation Association that he would stay for a term of about two years, but he proved so popular in America that his residency was extended for a further two years.
It appears that he will be fondly missed; to coincide with the panda s departure, the zoo has launched a series of postage stamps bearing his image, the proceeds from which will go towards wildlife conservation projects like the one that has made Tai Shan headline news.
Monkey Business
About 450 km to the East of Tai Shan’s new home is Chongqing Zoo, where you can also find pandas. Chongqing Zoo looks after a number of endangered species such as Great and Lesser pandas and South China Tigers, which are being monitored and bred as part of wildlife conservation programmes. But in the first week of February 2010, it was not the protected animals that caught the attention of the visiting crowds, but those that escaped the protection of their enclosures and made a break for freedom.
Somehow, a few of the zoo’s more mischievous monkeys climbed out of their enclosure. The absconding primates wasted no time in causing a commotion, grabbing food from the hands of zoo goers and running amok, even paying visits to the pens and cages of neighbouring animals. Tourists reported that they saw monkeys plucking an unfortunate peacock and topping up the fish pond with monkey urine. At the time of writing, it is not known whether they have been caught yet.
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