Clips
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BBC Wildlife Finder: Giant pandas
Find out more about Giant pandas at BBC Wildlife Finder
Giant pandas -
Panda twins
Panda cubs are often born as twins however in the wild only one would usually survive. At Chengdu, twins are removed from their mother at birth and then introduced back one by one to the mother, swapping each cub so that both can receive enough of their mother's precious milk. This technique has helped the centre reach its extraordinary mark of 300 pandas.
Watch Chengdu's cute baby pandas on YouTube -
Serious bamboo eaters
Despite having large canine teeth, Pandas only eat bamboo. They must eat vast quantities to get the energy they need to survive. At Chengdu, they employ a large workforce from surrounding villages to harvest bamboo and transport it to the centre. To add to this difficulty, the Pandas are highly selective about which bamboo shoots they eat leading to much of the harvested bamboo being rejected.
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A helpless Panda cub in his incubator
Helpless and blind, the baby pandas are dependent on their mothers for months after they are born. At Chengdu they are placed in incubators for observations and feeding whilst in rotation with their twin. The success of Chengdu is down to these revolutionary techniques and the diligence of the staff who monitor these precious cubs 24 hours a day.
Credits
- Narrator
- David Attenborough
- Director
- Andrew Graham-Brown
- Producer
- Sorrel Downer
- Executive Producer
- Tim Martin
