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Giant Pandas Tai Shan and Mei Lan will leave for China Via FedEx Panda Express
Posted on February 2nd, 2010 27 comments
Giant panda Tai Shan enjoys a cake during a farewell party at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. on Jan. 30, 2010. Hundreds of fans braved heavy snowfall Saturday to express goodbye to Tai Shan. Tai Shan, born at the National Zoo in 2005, will be carried back to China by a U.S. FedEx cargo plane on Feb. 4.
US-born panda cubs Tai Shan and Mei Lan will leave the United States to China on February 4 on board a special FedEx “Panda Express” flight bound for Chengdu, China.
On the morning of February 4, Tai Shan (aka butterstick) will have a police escort to Dulles international airport where he will board a FedEx’s new Boeing 777F aircraft specially decked out for the occasion with a 40 foot by 40 foot (12 x 12 meter) emblem of a panda painted on either side of the cockpit.
With Tai Shan on board the Panda Express — which normally transports 2,000 pounds (around 1,000 kilograms) of freight — will be one of his handlers from the National Zoo Washington , a veterinarian, and a three-year-old female panda Mei Lan and her entourage from Zoo Atlanta who will be picked up in Atlanta.
Tai Shan and his panda travel partner Mei Lan, will not have the run of the plane but will travel in comfort, without being anesthetized, in crates crafted out of tubular steel.
FedEx has years of experience transporting all sorts of wild animals, from lions to tigers to Tai Shan’s parents, which the global air freight company flew to the United States in 2000, long before Tai Shan was a twinkle in panda conservationists’ eyes. In 1974, FedEx carried a 13-foot tiger shark used in filming the movie Jaws, whilst competitor UPS famously transported Free Willy star Keiko the whale onboard a Hercules C-130 transport aircraft in 1996.
After his 14-and-a-half-hour flight to Chengdu, Tai Shan will travel 2.5 hours by road to Wolong’s Beifengxia nature reserve in Sichuan province, where after spending 30-days in quarantine he will join the breeding program.
Giant panda Tai Shan plays on snow-blanketd ground during a farewell party at the National Zoo in Washington D.C., the United States, Jan. 30, 2010
Tai Shan’s departure for China has been on the cards since the day he was born in 2005, and in fact, under an agreement between the National Zoo and China, he was supposed to have been sent to the fatherland when he turned two.
The Chinese granted Washington an extension, partly because Tai Shan would have been too young, at age two, to enter the panda breeding program in China, but also because of the “huge emotional attachment the American public has for him,” said Don Moore, associate director of animal care at the National Zoo.
But now at age four-and-a-half, the young panda is showing signs that he would welcome being part of a breeding program, not to mention the chance to nibble at more than the four varieties of bamboo that are available to him at his home in Washington.
But that won’t make waving goodbye to him any easier for visitors and staff of the National Zoo.
“It’s like sending your kindergartner off to kindergarten, but this kindergartner isn’t coming back. He’s going to stay in China,” said Moore.
“I’m going to miss him terribly but I always knew this day was coming and we were lucky to have him an extra two-and-a-half years,” said Meese, who has spent almost every day with Tai Shan since his birth in the early hours of July 9, 2005.
“But I’m looking at the more important, big picture and that is that Tai Shan is going to be part of the breeding program, which will help to make sure future generations can enjoy giant pandas,” she said.
Panda Cub Mei Lan from Zoo Atalanta. Mei Lan,” loosely translated, means “Atlanta Beauty.” When she was born, Mei Lan weighed 4 shaky little ounces. She now weighs about 200 pounds.
China to find “language teacher” for panda from U.S.
A panda breeding center in southwest China is looking for a “Chinese language teacher” and a “boyfriend” to welcome a female panda from Zoo Atlanta later this week.
Three-year-old Mei Lan will be flown to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan Friday from Washington, together with Tai Shan, a 4-year-old male panda from National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
“Mei Lan has been living in the United States since she was born, and she must be unfamiliar with Chinese, especially the Sichuan dialect,” said Huang Xiangming, director of the base’s animal management department.
“So we will find a Chinese language teacher for her, in addition to an exclusive keeper, and help her adapt to her new life faster,” he said.
Meanwhile, the base is asking the public to choose a “boyfriend” for Mei Lan as she had reached mating age, he said.
“We have created web pages on popular Internet portals to post images and introduce Mei Lan and a number of male pandas. We are inviting panda fans to vote for the best ‘boyfriend’ for Mei Lan according to their physical appearance, character, living habits and experts’ suggestions on the match,” he said.
Mei Lan would have to change her diet habits gradually.
“We have asked the American zookeepers to bring Mei Lan’s favorite biscuits, but we will gradually use Chinese ‘wotou’ (steamed bread of corn, sorghum and others) and fresh bamboo to replace biscuits,” Huang said.
Mei Lan would be quarantined for a certain period just like all other pandas arriving from overseas, he said.
Mei Lan has been living at Zoo Atlanta since she was born in September 2006. Her parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang arrived in Atlanta in November 1999.
Tai Shan, who was born in July 2005 and raised at the National Zoo of Washington D.C., will later go to the Ya’an Bifeng Gorge Breeding Base of Wolong National Nature Reserve, another panda breeding center in Sichuan.
Tai Shan was supposed to come to China at the age of two. The Chinese government agreed to postpone its return twice in 2007 and 2009 at the request of the National Zoo.
Tai Shan’s father Tian Tian, 13, and mother Mei Xiang, 12, are due to return to China in December next year.
According to the agreements reached by Chinese and American authorities, giant pandas are only loaned to the United States for scientific studies — such as Mei Lan and Tai Shan’s parents, and all their cubs must also be sent back to China.
Thirteen Chinese giant pandas are in four zoos in the United States.
Giant pandas, known for being sexually inactive, are among the world’s most endangered animals.
About 1,600 giant pandas live in China’s wild, mostly in Sichuan and the northwestern provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu. Another 290 are in captive-breeding programs worldwide, mainly in China.
27 responses to “Giant Pandas Tai Shan and Mei Lan will leave for China Via FedEx Panda Express”
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Romero Kingston June 1st, 2010 at 01:51
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Jim R. June 1st, 2010 at 20:11
I still feel so sad that our butterstick’s gone. Hope his ‘psychological training’ doesn’t mess w/his head!!!!
Panda Cub Tai Shan Gets a Check-up at 13 Weeks Old -
SugarGlider June 10th, 2010 at 11:08
Pandas lure visitors to Adelaide Zoo
Giant pandas Wang Wang and Funi are proving a significant drawcard for visitors to the Adelaide Zoo since they arrived six months ago. They have attracted around 70 per cent more visitors to the zoo with more than 25 per cent of those people coming from interstate.
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Fermin Zwingman July 2nd, 2010 at 18:21
Animal lovers in Canada could get the chance to view a giant panda up close.
That’s if the Governor General Michaëlle Jean has anything to say about it. She was in China Sunday holding a giant panda named Yali. She says Yali wants to come to Canada and is pressing Chinese officials to make it happen.
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean holds 11-month-old panda Yali at the Chengdu panda base.Canada is hoping to borrow pandas from China for zoos in Toronto, Calgary and Granby, Que. Pandas are given on loan, and only for 11 or 12 years, and they are not free. The going rate demanded by China is $1 million a year.
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Mauricio Chandra July 5th, 2010 at 06:23
Travel with the National Zoo’s panda curator to see Tai Shan in China
Five years ago, Tai Shan the infant panda was the cuteness king of Washington. Now he’s all grown up, back home in China, and looking like this:
Remember Little “Butterstick” ? He’s all grown up, back home in China.How do you miss Little “Butterstick” Tai Shan?
Enough to pay $5,000 plus airfare to go visit him? That well-known panda-lobbying organization: The Friends of the National Zoo is organizing a 10-day trip this fall to China, one that will include a stop at the Bifengxia Wildlife Preserve, home to our beloved Tai Shan. Sure, there’s lots of culture and dining and education and blah blah blah mixed in, but we know what it’s really all about: checking up on Butterstick to make sure he hasn’t been brainwashed. You will also stop by and say hello to Hua Mei, the San Diego Zoo-born female panda, who has had three births since her return to China in 2006. Additionally, You will have a chance to visit the newly returned female panda, three-year-old Mei Lan who was born at Zoo Atlanta, now at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center.The trip, booked through China Advocates tours (888.333.2585) out of San Francisco, runs Sept. 12-22 and costs $4,990 a person (plus another $1,190 for the lonely hearts traveling alone). Airfare from New York is another $1,700, and then of course you have to factor in all the bribe money you’ll need to hand out when you try to spirit Tai Shan away from his captors and back to our loving arms. Panda hugs for everyone when I return!
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Pok Fuery July 5th, 2010 at 10:04
Giant pandas have been the main attraction at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. for years. Despite their popularity, though, the pandas are scheduled to head back to China at the end of the year.
But the zoo is working on a new lease to either keep the pandas or make a swap. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian have been in the nation’s capital for 10 years, but have only produced one cub, Tai Shan.
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are owned by China and are leased to the National Zoo for $1 million a year.
The 7-month-old Tai Shan plays with mother Mei Xiang in 2006 at the National Zoo. -
ADDIFEZEFJADE July 23rd, 2010 at 09:26
I enjoyed reading your blog ~ thanks for posting such useful content.
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Darron Fang August 1st, 2010 at 14:59
China launches global search for panda keepers
Chengdu Panda Base in Sichuan province will soon offer contestants from around the world a chance to help look after the endangered animals for a month.
Organizers say that from August, they will be looking for “bright, articulate and engaging individuals from China and around the world, who care deeply about conservation issues” to spend one month in Chengdu.
The winners will “learn how unique these animals truly are, assist researchers and scientists there, and help raise awareness by blogging to millions of people around the world about their experience,” organizers note.
Full details of the competition and how to enter are yet to be released.
Nearly 300 pandas have been bred in captivity in various centres in China, and researchers are now looking at ways to send captive-bred pandas into the wild to boost the number of animals roaming free.
The difficult task got off to an inauspicious start when Xiang Xiang, a male cub, was trained to adapt to the wild and released into nature in 2006. He was found dead 10 months later, apparently killed by wild pandas.
China has started construction on a centre that will help captive pandas adapt to the wild, and researchers also plan to send pregnant pandas into the semi-wilderness in an effort to introduce their cubs to a natural environment.
The six lucky amateur panda keepers might get to interact with some of the stars of the base, such as Mei Lan, the three-year-old who was born in Atlanta in the United States and returned to China earlier this year.
Under agreements between Beijing and Washington, any offspring of pandas on loan to the United States must be returned to China within two to three years of their birth.
Chen Min, Mei Lan’s keeper, was tasked with calming down the recent arrival, who took some time to adapt to her new Chinese environment, and she says the female panda still has a temper.
“Sometimes, if she doesn’t do her exercise well, we won’t give her an apple and she gets very angry. She’ll just ignore you and go to sleep,” she says with a smile.
But for Chen, who has been at the centre for over a decade, it’s all worth it.
“When I first arrived, there were relatively few pandas. Now there are a lot, and you can say it’s partly thanks to our contribution.”
中国在全球招聘大熊猫饲养员
月薪仅1000元人民币、每天清晨6时30分便起身工作，但全球限招6人，而且还要求应征者“醒目、口齿清晰、有魅力”。
这份可能是“全球最珍稀的工作”，是中国四川省成都熊猫饲养基地仿效澳洲大堡礁全球召募保育员的做法，准备在最近向全球猎才。
由于现时正值熊猫的繁殖期，工作量大，基地准备招聘6名“猫熊保母”，主要工作就是喂食、清洁笼舍和带熊猫在户外活动，每周有两晚要与熊猫“共寝” ，观察它们的情况。
除了照顾猫熊的生活起居，“猫熊保母”还要在互联网上向全球猫熊爱好者讲述他们饲养熊猫的经验，宣传保护大熊猫的工作。
据悉，获选者将接受短期训练，了解熊猫的个性，协助科研工作，还有机会接触到美国出生的“美兰”等明星熊猫。
成都熊猫基地创建于1987年，当时只有6只熊猫，现时已经有84只。目前，全中国现时约有1600只野生熊猫。尽管人工饲养大熊猫的繁殖成功率日益提高，研究人员将这些大熊猫送回自然界生活的努力仍然困难重重。
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パンダ 日本名を募集へ 上野動物園 ３月にも公開
ジャイアントパンダのつがい２頭を上野動物園に受け入れるため、東京都は２６日、北京で中国野生動物保護協会と協定を結んだ。来年２月ごろに中国から日本に運ばれ、３月にも一般公開される予定。都は日本での名前を公募する。
上野動物園のパンダでは過去に、「トントン」に日本で公募された名前が付けられたという。
都建設局によると、２頭は雄の「ビーリー」（比力、４歳１１カ月）と雌の「シィエンニュ」（仙女、５歳）で、四川省のパンダ保護研究センター生まれ。それぞれ発育が良く活動的で、２世の誕生が期待されている。
２６日、北京で締結された協定では中国での野生動物保護に対する協力資金との名目で、年間９５万ドル（現在のレートは約８３００万円）のレンタル料を支払うことも決まった。
１９７２年に中国から「カンカン」「ランラン」が贈られて以来、ジャイアントパンダは上野動物園の象徴だったが、２００８年４月に「リンリン」が死んでから２年以上、不在となっている
来日するパンダの雄「比力（ビーリー）」
来日するパンダの雌「仙女（シィエンニュ）」 -
“Lazy American” Taishan on a food-and-exercise program
Before Tai Shan begins his career as a breeding panda, the staff in the section at the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas, in Sichuan, reserved for foreign-born pandas has been trying to bulk him up and rectify his lazy Western habits. According to Xinhua, his keeper, Huang Shan, will only feed him apple pieces if he stands up to get them.
“It’s a good exercise because it makes his hind legs stronger,” Huang said. “Pandas need strong legs to be able to mate.”
Under the food-and-exercise regimen, Tai Shan has
“gained more than 20 kg and now eats at least 50 kg of bamboo, 2 kg of carrots and 2 kg of panda cakes – made with corn, eggs and honey – a day.”
Huang said that after Tai Shan arrived, the center not only fed him more food, but helped him get into shape.
“We used to spread the food around so Tai Shan was forced to walk around the big area to find the food,” Huang said.
“Now, he is much stronger and has a better body shape. And his hair is more lustrous.”
The staff has also trained Tai Shan to respond to commands in Chinese. When he first arrived, he only understood English and signals from a whistle.
In another year or so, when Tai Shan is fully mature and in suitable physical condition, the center will began auditioning females as prospective mates for him, bringing them one at a time into his 21,000-square-foot enclosure, which is the “largest in the center.”
Tai Shan will have many others to choose from as the center has more than 90 pandas, most of them females.
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Sunny Tigger August 28th, 2010 at 14:21
Panda Keeper Contest Now Accepting Applications until Sep. 6
More than 17,000 people from around the world have entered a contest to become a panda keeper for a month in China, less than two weeks after the competition was launched.
“Project Panda,” launched by the Chengdu Panda Base in the southwestern province of Sichuan and the WWF, aims to give the contest’s six winners a chance to study panda behavior for one month.
The keepers will witness the birth of baby pandas and trek in the mountains around Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital, to study wild pandas.
They will also have to keep a blog about their experiences, to help raise awareness of the endangered animal’s plight.
According to http://www.pandahome.com, the website where animal lovers can apply for the position, a total of 17,799 people have entered the contest on Aug 29th, ahead of the September 6 deadline.
The contest is open to anyone age 18-40, is substance free, has good English writing skills and is physically fit. Should you be selected you will need to secure a tourist visa. From the internet applications, 12 semi-finalists will be flown to China for a week of training. Then six pambassadors will be chosen at the end of September..
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Maybelle Ditzler September 18th, 2010 at 12:01
US-born panda gives birth to her 8th cub in China
An American-born panda gave birth to her eighth cub in southwest China, a rare accomplishment for the endangered species known for being poor breeders.
Hua Mei gave birth to a male cub at 3 a.m. on Friday at the Wolong China Giant Panda Research Center in Sichuan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said Friday. The cub weighed 5.7 ounces at birth.
This brings the number of panda births at the Wolong center to 16 this year, equal to last year’s total, the report said.
Hua Mei — whose name means China-America — was the first giant panda cub born in the United States in 1999, at the San Diego Zoo, after a decade of failed breeding attempts. She returned to China in 2003 and now has eight cubs, including three sets of twins.
Panda females have only three days a year in which they can conceive — one reason their species is endangered. Some males never succeed at natural breeding, so artificial insemination has become common practice when breeding captive pandas.
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ToryinSD October 3rd, 2010 at 03:30
San Diego Zoo Bids Farwell to Two Giant Panda Sisters
Early Saturday morning, 5-year-old Su Lin and her 3-year-old sister, Zhen Zhen, were accompanied by San Diego Zoo animal care and veterinary staff members on a plane trip to their new home at the Wolong Nature Reserve Giant Panda Bi Feng Xia Base in the People’s Republic of China. The pandas will join an important conservation program where they will contribute to the preservation of this endangered species.
Su Lin and Zhen Zhen were born in 2005 and 2007 respectively in the Zoo of San Diego. Their father, “Gao Gao,” and mother, “Bai Yun,” were sent to the United States on panda breeding research programs aimed at increasing global understanding of the endangered species’ feeding and breeding patterns.
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I’m the crazy panda lady of the tour group since I keep mentioning Tai over and over, but I just can’t help it. I try not to say his name too often but, as we get closer, and the anticipation builds, I’m nervous and giddy.
Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for when we fist saw Tai. BFX is quite large and there are many ‘roads’ winding throughout. We took the tram (bus) up to Leopard Mountain where our Prince awaited us. We got off the tram and started walking up the hill towards his enclosure (there are soooooooooo many hills) and as we came up to the top, there was Tai, almost like he was waiting for us.
It quite simply took my breath away to see him looking so magnificent and healthy. We started calling to him “Tai Shan, Good Boy, We Love You Tai” and he recognized our voices and looked right at us. That has happened over and over and each time I just melt. I just stared at him for a few minutes until it sunk in that I was really here, in China, and Tai was right in front of me. I was speechless, in awe, humbled, excited and head over heels in love with him all over again (not that I ever stopped loving him for one moment).”“Did I cry? Yep, I cried several times. I was just so overwhelmed with emotion at seeing him, remembering when he left and getting to see him again. I just kept staring at him and telling him that you all send lots of huggies and kisses and I also told him that his Mommy and Daddy love him too and are very, very proud of him.”
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Carla Laporta October 16th, 2010 at 18:38
Nacen dos crías de oso panda en el Zoo Aquarium de Madrid
La osa panda Hua Zui Ba ha parido dos crías después de 135 días de gestación, los primeros nacimientos que se producen en España desde que nació Chulín en 1982 y los terceros en Europa. El Zoo Aquarium de Madrid ha valorado el hecho como “un gran logro a nivel mundial, al tratarse de una especie en gravísimo peligro de extinción”. El primer alumbramiento se produjo a las 13:40 horas y el segundo a las 15:13 horas el pasado 7 de septiembre. Las crías pesaron unos 150 gramos cada una. Los visitantes del Zoo no podrán verlas todavía, pero sí podrán contemplarlas a través de las pantallas de televisión que se han colocado en las instalaciones de los osos panda.
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pandarazzi October 17th, 2010 at 22:27
Journey of a lifetime – Panda moms travel across the world to visit Tai Shan (1)
Tai Shan’s departure earlier this year left fans of the American-born panda bereft. Would he miss his mother? Would he miss his fans? Would they love him as much in China as folks did in the states? Those questions led four American women to fly to China to find out. Not only did they spend thousands see Tai Shan — they also got to clean up after him. What they experienced when they got to the country’s largest panda reserve topped anything they’d ever done in years of devotion to their beloved bear. -
pandarazzi October 18th, 2010 at 15:56
Journey of a lifetime – Panda moms travel across the world to visit Tai Shan (2)
What made everything worth it was the feeding, when the women got to touch Tai Shan for the first time through bars – something they always wanted but were never allowed to do in Washington. Tai Shan’s diet in his new home consists of bamboo, apples, carrots and a “panda cake” which includes corn, rice, protein powder and vitamins. Here, Elise feeds Tai Shan a carrot. His keepers in China are trying to bulk him up by feeding him five to six times a day. Tai Shan, they say, is an enthusiastic eater.
After his afternoon feeding, Tai Shan climbs atop his wooden house and sprawls out on the roof for a nap. Tai Shan arrived underweight at 196 pounds and with a flabby belly. His Chinese keepers tackled both problems by preying on his love of food, hiding snacks to force him to exercise while simultaneously bulking him up. In just seven months he had gained 40 pounds.
A pair of two-year-old cubs roughhouse with Christie and Karen. For a fee, tourists can don plastic covering and romp around with panda cubs in an enclosed playground. The playful cubs like to tousle hair, nuzzle noses, and grab legs. Staff members placate them with carrots to keep them from getting too rough. -
pandarazzi October 20th, 2010 at 20:04
Journey of a lifetime – Panda moms travel across the world to visit Tai Shan (3)
One-year-old pandas play and tussle in the preserve’s “panda kindergarten.” The Bifengxia panda reserve in Chengdu acts as a breeding center for pandas in an attempt to revitalize China’s endangered panda population.
To most Chinese tourists, Tai Shan is just another panda, and the American women’s love for him is a bit bizarre. To them, he is one of a kind. Here, Christie and Karen look on happily as Tai Shan is let out from his cage to enjoy his outdoor enclosure, which is finally clean after a long morning’s work by the women to clear the area of bamboo and panda poop. Outside Tai Shan’s pen after a recent morning’s feeding, one of his keepers, Liu Juan, recounted how the American women had cried upon seeing Tai Shan; a few cried again after feeding and touching him for the first time. “Some people think it’s strange, but I understand their feelings,” she confessed. “I cried too when I saw pandas for the first time. I want to tell the women that we also love pandas. That’s why we all work here. They don’t need to worry about Tai Shan.” -
Pandatack November 8th, 2010 at 13:54
Zoo Atlanta giant panda Lun Lun gave birth to her third cub after about six hours in labor on Wednesday, November 3. Immediately after giving birth, Lun Lun scooped up the cell phone-sized baby and started bathing it. Lun Lun was inseminated with sperm from her partner, Yang Yang, in June after the two failed to mate. The couple’s previous cubs were Mei Lan, born in 2006, and Xi Lan, born in 2008. Lun Lun’s first delivery in 2006 required 36 hours of labor, while her second birth, in 2008, took nine hours.
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Pandatack December 3rd, 2010 at 19:33
Hello World! It’s a boy panda!The only giant panda born in the United States in 2010 is a male. About 1-month-old, a new giant panda cub born to Lun Lun at Zoo Atlanta is still smaller than a house cat, but he is healthy and growing fast. The cub, who will be named when he is 100 days old following Chinese tradition, will be placed in public viewing areas when he can walk, usually around 4 months old. He measures just over a foot long and weighs 2.2 pounds.
Lun Lun and the cub will debut to the public sometime in spring 2011. Before then, catch mom and son on the zoo’s PandaCam.
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slaniongani March 19th, 2010 at 09:43