The final post to share from my days at the Chengdu Panda Base – last time I had an amazing time seeing the quintet of Bei Chen 北辰, Zhi Yu 徵羽, Jiao Yi 娇毅, Wen Jing 文静 and Jia Xin 家欣, and this time they’re still in the same house as they were but in different smaller combinations. I loved seeing all 5 together, but of course as they get older that’s not so practical. So on the first day of my visit I saw Wen Jing, Zhi Yu and Jia Xin outside, while Bei Chen and Jiao Yi were inside, and on the second day I saw Bei Chen, Zhi Yu and Jiao Yi outside (I didn’t go inside on this day to see the others). So they are being mixed up in different combinations and I’m glad I still saw all 5 of them in the end! Their yard is huge, I think the largest one in this pavilion, it’s on a corner so there are two sides to view from. I did find the pandas generally spent their time in the back half of the yard, so sometimes they could be tricky to see – but possibly just due to the time I was visiting them at.
Wen Jing 文静, Zhi Yu 徵羽 and Jia Xin 家欣
On the first day of my visit I was at this pavilion in the afternoon and saw Wen Jing, Zhi Yu and Jia Xin. When I first got there the keepers were out clearing away some leftover bamboo and putting out fresh bamboo and treats – the yard has lots of enrichment options so plenty of places to put apples and panda cake! After 10 minutes or so, and with a small crowd gathered, the trio soon headed out and all went their own ways to find the goodies – I especially liked the swing seat at the back, the keeper had put some panda cake right on top of the frame and seeing one of the pandas standing up on the seat and looking all along the top frame for a treat was very cute^ There were plenty of treats for each of the three pandas to get their own and only very minimal tussle for the remaining treats when the first choices had been made!
Bei Chen 北辰, Zhi Yu 徵羽 and Jiao Yi 娇毅
On the second day of my visit I was relieved to see the pandas had been swapped around, meaning I could see all five, so this time I saw Bei Chen, Zhi Yu and Jiao Yi. It was a bit earlier so I caught the lunchtime bamboo feast! They were already out eating when I got there and the three of them were gathered in and around a giant pile of bamboo having a great time. Luckily they were sitting in quite a clear section of the yard so the view was pretty good. The keeper came out to check on them and one of the pandas thought she might have had some more so got up to follow her along the walkway (sadly she was just checking and didn’t have any more bamboo or treats) which was cute, but then he/she settled back in with their friends.
