Pandas and Peaks!!

Names: Chelsey Butler and Catherine Jenkins 
Class Year: 2019 and 2020
Hometown: Williamstown, WV and Proctorville, OH 
Internship: Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding 
Location: Chengdu, Sichuan, China 


After another fun filled week we are down to one month left in our internship! It has gone by so fast!
For the past two weeks we have been in the husbandry department for one week and then James, our research mentor, returned for the second week. In the husbandry department, there has been a lot of hustle and bustle due to the fact that it is baby season!! In the Sunshine Nursery House there has been four cubs born, two sets of twins!!! Fecal samples are collected from the cubs every morning which we now collect. Samples are collected from the Sunshine Nursery House as well as the Moonlight Nursery House which are then brought to the research lab.




For the past week we have been observing a group of six giant pandas in Panda House #2. Two of the pandas in this enclosure were watched in previous years when they were one year old cubs. We are using the same ethogram that was used in the past to collect more behavioral data on these pandas as well as give some insight on how the behaviors change as they age. We will now been collecting data for the next four weeks to come.
 

As one of our many adventures, we decide to climb Qingcheng Mountain! We started off by riding the bullet train to get to the stop where the mountain was. Then after arrival we road in a mini bus that took us the the bottom of the mountain. We decide to go to the backside of the mountain instead of the front because of its scenic views and beautiful waterfalls. After MANY MANY MANY steps later we finally reached the top and went to the White Cloud Temple! There were many breath-taking views and climbing the mountain made us see the other side of China.

After climbing the mountain on Saturday, Sunday we thought we deserved a juicy burger and loaded fries. There is a burger restaurant here called Red Beard Burgers, that is owned by a man who is from America. With many delicious and unique options it was hard to choice which cheesy delight we wanted to choose first. The food was almost as amazing as the staff. We spent a majority of our day talking to the host, hostess, and the owner as well.

The time has really flown by and we have enjoyed every second!! We can't wait for more adventures to come!!