Public gets first glimpse of pandas in NE China
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E-mail Xinhua, July 2, 2015
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One of the giant pandas from Sichuan Province puts on a show for the public as it tucks into some bamboo at its new home in Changchun in northeast China's Jilin Province. [Photo/Xinhua] |
Two giant pandas from southwest China's Sichuan Province made their public debut in their new home in northeastern Jilin Province yesterday.
The pair, an 8-year-old male and a 7-year-old female, went through a weeklong quarantine and are in good health after settling into a new panda house at a Siberian tiger breeding base in the provincial capital of Changchun, said Wang Haijun, a spokesman for the base.
It is the farthest north that pandas will have lived in China for a long time. Due to its cold winters, the north is generally avoided as a habitat for pandas, which prefer the warmer climate in Sichuan.
The two pandas were moved to Jilin from the Dujiangyan base of the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center.
Under the care of two breeders and three vets, they will stay at the Jilin base for three years for both public viewing and scientific research.
"They have good appetite. Every day, they eat 50 kilograms of bamboo transported from their hometown plus carrots, apples and biscuits specially made for them. They have adapted well to the new environment and climate," Wang said.
Their new home is a 900-square-meter building with an outdoor area covering 800 square meters.
Air conditioners, humidifiers, electric heaters and ultraviolet disinfection lamps have been installed in the panda house to help the newcomers adjust to the local environment, Wang said.
As of the end of 2013, China had 1,864 pandas living in the wild and 375 in captivity, according to official census data released in February.
Explaining the decision to move the pandas to the far north of the country, Wang Pengyan, chief engineer with the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, said that pandas have successfully been raised at high latitudes in other countries including Scotland where a pair live at Edinburgh Zoo.
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