So I will admit, that spending a lot of time waiting and watching Bao Di and Bao Mei, it didn’t leave a lot of time for seeing all the other pandas at the base, so the rest of the pandas living in the White Bear Ground were a little neglected with my time – however these guys are in a prime position by being on the main path in and out of the base, so everyone has to go past at least twice! This is a prime viewing spot for the Summer months because there is a long covered viewing walkway with seats as well, perfect for keeping in the shade. There are 4 yards here, I saw pandas in them all, but only very briefly saw De Rui so only had one photo, but I did get a few of the other pandas living here – across the 4 yards there were 7 pandas in total here.
Si Xue 思雪 + cub
In the first yard I was surprised to see a mum and cub already! The mum is Si Xue 思雪, a panda who I don’t think I’ve seen before – she was born in 2006, making her 18 on my visit. She has moved between this base and Wolong a number of times in her life, so likely was part of the breeding programme during those moves, then in 2017 she moved to Shanghai Wild Animal Park where she gave birth to at least 1 cub. So she is likely an experienced mother, and now has another young one, who has now been named Bing Xue 冰雪, a little girl born in July 2023. These two spent the whole day on the covered platform at the front of the yard surrounded by bamboo! Initially Si Xue was eating while Bing Xue napped, but later in the afternoon as I was heading out I managed to catch both of them awake and sharing the bamboo.
Jia Bai 佳佰 + Jia Yang 佳阳
Jia Bai 佳佰 and Jia Yang 佳阳 are still living in the same yard as I saw them in last time in this area, and I have to say, like last time I still didn’t see a great deal of these two as they were mostly sleeping and I only saw one awake and eating at the end of the afternoon!
Fu Tao + Fu Lin
I also saw Fu Tao 福涛 and Fu Lin 福琳 last year on my visit living in the same yard – they are now over 5 years old, so I’m a little surprised they are still living together being a male-female twin pair, but they seem to be doing ok together. Alike the others in this area, they were sleeping when I first saw them, but were awake and eating later in the afternoon and I’m very happy with the pictures I got of that brief moment. One of them in particular has a very fluffy face and looks quite similar to some of my favourite pandas to watch, so I’m hoping I see this one again^
