The final area at the Dujiangyan Panda Base to visit Shuangnan Garden 双楠园 which is on the right of the main path and around half-way through the base between the Pan Pan 盼盼园 and Diequan Gardens 蝶泉园. Here there are 5 enclosures for pandas, however really only 3 of these are visible – the fenced off area in the above picture has all the viewing of the 4th enclosure, however if the panda is out in the yard and in the right spot you would be able to see across another yard to see it. The 5th one you can’t see at all. On my last visit in 2017, the fenced off area wasn’t at this spot as I remember getting up to the front viewing windows of at least the 3rd yard into the area, whereas now you can’t. You can also see the fence on the right of the picture blocking the window into the indoor area for the associated enclosure, again I’m sure I was able to look into this on my last visit. I completely don’t mind this, it gives the keepers space to work without being watched all the time and also some quiet off-show space for the pandas – I only couldn’t see the name plaque for the panda in the 3rd enclosure because it was in the staff-only space.
This was by far the quietest area in the base – we visited it twice, once around 11AM and then again around 2PM. The first time there were a handful of visitors, just a tour group and a few families, and the second time there were the two of us plus one more person. The pandas were all getting fresh bamboo around the 2PM mark so it was a great time to be there to see them be let outside and rush over to see what good bamboo (or other items, maybe some carrot or panda cake) there was to eat.
E Mei 娥眉
The first panda in the area and on the left side is E Mei 娥眉. She was born in 2020 at the Wolong Shenshuping Base, so is around 3.5 years old here, which I was a little surprised about because I didn’t think she looked like too young of a panda. The info on her sign says she has a round face and big ears, and a little tuft on her head that supports the WIFI at the base (like Ji Fu) – I for one think her ears and little tuft are super cute^ She was very happy to sit out and enjoy her bamboo – her yard is pretty shaded as there are a lot of trees, and she sat at the edge of the shade partly in the sun to enjoy part of her feast. There are some super cute videos of her on iPanda that you should definitely check out! It also seems that living alone is relatively new to her, as there are pictures online from November 2023 of her sharing a yard with Nong Nong 檂檂 who now lives alone in the Diequan Garden (sadly he didn’t come outside on my visit).
E Mei is regarded as an important panda because she was born to wild parents. She is the 7th cub to mother Qiao Qiao 乔乔, and I can guess that the mother lives in one of the semi-wild spaces and can be let out for mating with wild males and brought back when cub(s) are born. So genetically, she is a valuable panda to add to the captive population.
Jin Du Du 金嘟嘟
In the 3rd yard of this area is female Jin Du Du 金嘟嘟 who was born in 2019 at the Wolong Shenshuping Base so is now 4.5 years old. Now the spot where her name sign is was in the staff-only space, so I couldn’t see any information, luckily there is quite a bit available online. Her mother is Hua Mei 华美 – sound familiar? Well we already saw her at the base in the Pan Pan Garden – she is the first returned cub from the US after being born in San Diego Zoo in 1999.
She is apparently standing out for her long legs, unique tall build and her particularly large ear tufts! She is said to be playful, and when living with her twin, they were always playing together which is very sweet. She is featured on one of the iPanda livecams, so you can check her out if you get the timing right. From posts online, it looks like the twins were separated in September 2023 (with twin Meng Meng moving to Wuhan Zoo) and Jin Du Du moved to Pan Pan Garden, in what is currently Ji Fu and Chun Yu‘s yard, then in April 2024 she moved to where she is now (and Ji Fu and Chun Yu moved in, which is why there was no sign as they had only been there a few weeks at most). She was definitely playful when I saw her, running around all over the yard, which was mostly on a hillside (so part of it was hidden from view), and rolling around. When I was in the area in the afternoon she was even rolling in the water right in front of me!
