We love our Chinese friends :)

Name: Kelly Jackson

Class/Year: Class of 2017, Junior

Hometown: Waterford, Wisconsin

Location: Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

Internship: Animal Behavior Research

​This past Thursday was a fun day for us here at the panda base! First off, we got to collect our fecal samples that morning. After we gathered up all the poop, we went to the lab to actually see what happens to the red panda poop. There are two students at the panda base who are in charge of the rough extraction of the fecal samples. Their job includes a lot of labeling! They first record where our samples came from and from which panda, if there is glitter in their poop. Afterward, they label each bag with a secure name tag. Once all the bags are labeled, they place the samples in the freezer for a week. When they come out of the freezer, they will then go into a spinner, or a centrifuge, for another couple of days. The students will then take the samples and “destroy” them. They labeled more test tubes and placed each “destroyed” poop into the tubes. Not only were we able to observe them doing so, but we actually got to assist them with it! The students made us wear gowns, gloves, masks, and even hairnets! It was fun to play dress up for a bit. :P

​In the afternoon, we finished the final touches on our enrichment. We rinsed off the pipes while James cut up a few apples. We placed the apple slices into the holes on the sides of the PVC pipes and wa-la! Our enrichment was complete! Macie and I ran to the front of the enclosure, where we recorded a video and an observation of the pandas when James put in the enrichment. There were so many people surrounding us, I was definitely sweating up a storm! The cubs seemed to like the enrichment though! They played with it for a bit and even the following day when we were observing them! Overall, I’d say it was pretty successful. :)

​On Saturday, we went to Fei-Fei’s hometown to “go play outside.” Her hometown is called Luodai, and it just outside of the city of Chengdu. She told us it used to be a refuge for the Hakkanese people, a long time ago. Her grandfather traveled from the south part of China, near the sea, to Luodai and her family has been there ever since. We went to a shopping center where we got to play more dress up! Macie and I got to choosetraditional Chinese dresses and take pictures in them! I picked a blue dress because it looked the most like Elsa from Frozen (I guess I look like her). The photographer handed us a bunch of props to model with, my favorite being a guitar with no strings that I had to pretend to play. :P

​After we ate a delicious lunch, we went to what Fei-Fei called “the mini Great Wall.” We climbed up a massive hill, which was treacherous due to it being ninety five degrees out (phew). At the top, there was a Buddhist Temple with of course a marvelous view. It was so quaint, compared to the busy city life we have grown accustomed too. Outside of the temple, there was a wall, where if you spun around three times and found the wall with your eyes closed, you were blessed for life. Thankfully, Macie and I both successfully found it, although it was a bit of a struggle. (;

​The little wall was super cool! The view was again so beautiful. There were a bunch of people trying to sell us gifts throughout our walk along the wall. We took tons of pictures, including jumping ones! We even got Fei-Fei to take a super cute jumping picture of herself. :) We made it about a quarter or so of the way through the trek of the wall, before we heard thunder. It was time to head back! By the time we arrived at the car, it had started to sprinkle. Macie and I were very grateful that Fe-Fe invited us to her hometown. It was cool to see the difference between the city and the farm lands of China. We really appreciated it and had a blast! 

​On Sunday, we went to our Chinese lesson. We learned different parts of the body, and now we are able to sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” in Chinese! Eldora, our teacher, then treated us to a day of fun-filled adventures with her friends! We first went to a Buddha Temple where we ate delicious and traditional Chinese food. Eldora ordered us “sad jelly noodles” which is a type of rice noodle. It is referred to as sad because it makes people cry from the spice! We also had other delicious treats like “curd” which is a very sweet flan type food. My favorite was the “bang-bang-bang.” It is a sticky rice ball covered in flour, and dipped in a sweet sauce. When they make it, a man throws three balls into the flour, making a “bang” noise. I asked the guy if we could throw the balls into the flour, and he let Macie and I try! Needless to say, it’s harder than it looks. :P

​After we ate and ate and ate, we went to the metro and hopped on over to the panda post. It is a store just outside of the subway stop, where a lot of tourists go. There you can choose a postcard and send it to your family! Macie and I decided we would do this for our families. Eldora told us the man said it could take up to a year to get to its final destination though, oops! Lily, Wu, Eldora, Macie, and I also took many pictures together as a memory of our day spent together! We each wrote messages to each other on the pictures, and put cute stamps on them. It is one of my favorite memories and souvenirs I will have here from Chengdu. (:

​We said good-bye to Wu, because he was going back to his high school to meet his teacher. The four of us girls headed on over to the Sichuan Art Museum. Eldora told us there were four main pieces when it comes to Chinese Art. I don’t remember all of them, but the brush strokes utilized in the paintings was one we definitely saw within the art pieces at the museum. There were many artworks dealing with war and animals. We also saw a lot of calligraphy and Chinese writing. 

Next, we went to Tianfu Square where we were greeted by millions of little pandas! It was so much fun to pose with all of them! After a huge photo shoot with China’s national treasure, we went to Chunxi Road, a giant shopping center. Eldora told us there are three famous cities in China that are known for shopping: Hong Kong, Shanghai, and of course, Chengdu. She also told us that at the end of this year there will be a new Disney in Shanghai, and it will be the biggest one in the world! Just a heads up for whoever is thinking about coming to Chengdu next year. ;)

Finally, we arrived at the IFS building. There is a giant panda that scales the side of the building here. It was built by an American artist, who also built a giant blue bear in Denver. We went all the way up to the building to take pictures with the smiling panda. It was so beautiful at the top! Not only did we get to see the panda, but there were other several pieces of artwork there too! After another photo shoot, we headed down to the basement, where we explored the library. There were many Chinese books there, including books in English and several other languages. Lily and Eldora were excited to hear us talk about all the English books there. They even had said they saw the Notebook! 

As we headed home, it had started to rain. Thankfully, Lily got us an Uber (yes, they have that here) and we didn’t get too wet! We ended our day eating at a lovely restaurant near our home. Eldora and Lily ordered a large bowl filled with all kinds of vegetables. In the bowl there were also quail eggs, which I was very fond of. With our stomachs full we headed back to our hotel. Eldora wanted to give us one more treat though! She ordered us what she calls “pancakes.” Mine was filled with chocolate and vanilla cream and Macie got a potato and meat one. It was my favorite thing I have eaten in China so far. Overall, we had an awesome day. I loved exploring the city with Eldora and her friends. They are so much fun to be with, and very fluent in their English as well! :)

Macie and I extracting DNA from panda poop! :P

Yay for extraction :)

Posing with James in our new attire ;P

Making enrichment for the pandas! Working hard, or hardly working? ;D

Chen Jiu playing with our enrichment! He loved it. :)

View from the Little Great Wall!

Macie, Fei Fei, and me on the Little Great Wall!

Posing as Elsa (aka my twin) :P

Macie, Fei Fei, and I in her hometown!

Because did you really go to China if you didn't take a jumping pic?

Posing with Fei Fei :)

Delicious assortment of noodles we got with Eldora, Lily, and Wu

Sweet treats and dumplings we ate

Rose jello, another sweet treat, and more dumplings!

Tofu tasty treats!

Posing with the panda statues!

Lily, Eldora, me, Macie, and Wu at the Panda Post!

Me, Macie, Eldora, and Lily posing in front of the panda statue :)

Experiencing the traditions of China

Name: Macie Smith

Class Year: Senior
Hometown: Beavercreek, OH
Internship: Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Location: Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

Kelly and I have had quite a busy week here in China! Last week we were able to build, clean, and provide enrichment for the one year old giant panda cubs. For this small project, we helped mark and drill holes in several sections of PVC pipe. After we ensured there were no sharp edges, everything was scrubbed, bleached, left out to dry, and rinsed again. Kelly and I placed cut up apple slices into the holes before James places the enrichment in the enclosure while we stood outside to observe and record their behavior. The cubs didn’t seem very interested in the apple slices but they still interacted with the enrichment for about 20 minutes of our 30 minute observation, so I think our first attempt at making enrichment went very well!

Our adventure of feeding apples with different colored glitter to the different red pandas continues on Monday and Wednesday afternoons followed by hunting for their glittery poop the next morning. James brought a microchip reader so we got to hand feed a few extra apple slices so the red pandas would stay near us long enough for the microchip reader to pick up the individual’s code. Kelly and I had a rough job that day, but it had to be done! After this, we met up with the students that are helping the veterinarian that is utilizing the poop samples for her study. We were able to help perform a rough extraction on the poop samples we had collected a few weeks ago, which had already been dried and frozen. It was a stinky job so the students brought out a lot of personal protective items for us to put on; Kelly and I couldn’t pass up the photo opportunity!

Over the weekend we had a more true, not-so-touristy Chinese experience! One of the interns we share a lab with, Fei Fei, invited us to visit her home town. We did not realize how far away this would be from the city of Chengdu but we actually saw farmland on the metro ride over and it was a beautiful change in scenery! Fei Fei took us to a traditional street filled with shops and places to eat. Kelly and I were even able to play dress-up with traditional Chinese clothing, which was a lot of fun!

After a traditional lunch of a sort of “sour fish” hot pot, Fei Fei took us to the Golden Dragon Temple and to what she called the “mini Great Wall!” Apparently, at the Golden Dragon Temple, if you close your eyes, spin five times, and touch the golden letters, you may be blessed for life.

The following day, ElDora, the girl who has been kind enough to try and teach Kelly and I Chinese, took us around Chengdu so we could experience the daily life of a person in Chengdu. After our Chinese lesson, we went with ElDora and her two friends near Wenshu Monastery to try several different traditional Chinese dishes, all of which were actually very delicious! We were even able to help make what translates into “glutinous rice cake” and are like sticky rice balls that are thrown onto a drum and bounce into a powder that I’m pretty sure we were told was sesame and then drizzled with a sauce. Kelly and I were very excited that they let us throw these rice balls on the drum!

  After this we went to the Panda Post where Kelly and I wrote post cards to our families and we all took pictures and wrote small messages to each other on them. We then went to the Sichuan Art Museum and on our way to Chunxi Road (a big shopping area) we passed a section of the sidewalk with a ton of giant panda statues; another photo opp we just couldn’t miss.

We proceeded to the IFS shopping area to see a sculpture of a giant panda (which was made by an American artist) and a giant book store! LeDora took us to have a traditional dinner and a pancake-like snack afterwards. The food here is definitely different than what we have at home but everything we had this weekend was delicious! I’m so happy to have met such kind people to show Kelly and I around the area and help us have a more traditional Chinese experience!

Freedom At Last!

Name: Victoria Turbyfill

Class/Year: Class of 2017, Junior

Hometown: Danville, Kentucky 

Location: Ohio Wildlife Center Hospital 

Internship: Animal Care 

My last shift at OWC hospital was the first nice day we have had in a while. It felt like it had been raining for weeks on end. Weather like that affect what animals can be released. We don't want to release an animal in bad weather when they don't have or know their territory and can't escape from the rain. I remember thinking to myself "I hope I can release an animal today because its so beautiful." When I arrived Kristi asked me to call four presenters to ask if they wanted to release the animals they had brought in themselves back where they were found. When no one answered I send emails to all of them. A lady who had brought a cardinal in called back to let us know she was out of town. Kristi asked if I would like to do the honors knowing that I wanted to release something that day. The cardinal was in the flight room where maturing juvenile birds stay to learn to fly when they come in as fledglings. Of course non of the interns (all three of us working together) could not catch him, even with two nets. We asked Kristi for help and like predicted she came out with the bird in about 20 seconds. We put him in a shoe box and drove about 10 minutes to a dog park where the bird was found. We looked for a good clear spot with a lot of bushed and opened the box for him. He immediately went to the trees and checked out his surroundings. After a moment he took off into the open field behind the trees. It is the most rewarding feeling to watch an animal become healthy enough to go back to the wild and set them free. This day was one of the good days that makes working at a wild animal hospital one of the most rewarding experiences I've had. (I have an awesome video of him flying away but my computer refused to cooperate). 

Sparkly Poo and Karaoke Too

Name: Kelly Jackson

Class/Year: Class of 2017, Junior

Hometown: Waterford, Wisconsin

Location: Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

Internship: Animal Behavior Research

            Last week, Macie and I administered our first ever “sparkle samples.” In order to tell which panda is which, different colored glitter is put into the food, and each color is given to a separate panda. One panda usually gets blue, while the other gets red, and the third panda gets no color. When the panda eats the glittered food, it will (as all animals do) eliminate it from its body, leaving a sparkly surprise for us to pick up the following morning. It’s great because the glitter is not toxic for the pandas to ingest and it makes it easier for analyzing which panda the poop came from. James cut up the apples for us, and made a hole in each piece for us to place the glitter into. Each of us spooned out the colors and placed them in the holes. Once we had enough for all of the pandas, we went on out to feed them. In addition to giving them the glitter samples, James brought a microchip reader with him . All he has to do is hold the reader over the panda for a brief moment and all of the information about the panda will appear on the screen. While James was reading the pandas, Macie and I fed the red pandas their sparkly treats. They seemed to really enjoy them because there was glitter everywhere! :)

            Although feeding them sparkles is a blast, finding their poop is now a true challenge. We specifically have to look for the colors in their fecal matter, and we can’t have two of the same colored samples. Sometimes their poop will only have a few sparkles in it, and other times it will be a massive explosion of colors. It really makes finding the samples that much more entertaining now. Plus, James always jokes about whoever finds the final poop will get a prize. Nine times out of ten, it’s James who finds the last one. :P

            Our project has been sailing smoothly the past couple of days. Our method of focal sampling when all five pandas are together, and scan sampling when they are separated, has been working out. The keepers have been entering less and less each day, which makes collecting data more efficient. Macie and I also did an inter-observer reliability test the other day. We both randomly selected a panda, and watched that panda for about an hour. Afterward, we compared what we classified for behaviors and proximity, to see if both of us are recording similar data for what actions and positions the pandas are in. Macie and I only had one time where we noted a behavior differently. But you know that they say…great minds think alike. (;

            On Saturday, we went to KTV with our friends we made here at the panda base. KTV in China is similar to karaoke in America, but on a whole new level. They have places here specifically for KTV, where you and your friends will rent out a room to sing in. We got a Mickey Mouse room, so everything was Disney themed. The room we were in also had two portable microphones and one that was a microphone stand. On the wall, they have a huge database of songs you can choose from. And yes, they have a huge database full of English songs! The video will appear on the screen, and then you just sing along! It was so different to see all of the Chinese videos compared to the American videos! One of our friends, Fe-Fe is a very good singer and sang the main song “My Heart Will Go On” from the Titanic. My favorite was when our friends sang “Let it Go” in Chinese while we sang it in English! It was a cool mash-up.

            Sunday, we headed on over to one of the art markets here in Chengdu. They have so many different little antiques and knick knacks for you to buy. From Chinese paintings to little sculptures, to jewlrey, the market was full of a wide variety of things. Of course, you can always bargain your way with the prices, and we ended up getting some good deals on really unique souveniers for everyone back at home. :)

            This week we are hoping to provide enrichment to the panda cubs. I can’t wait to see how they react! Hopefully we can get a good video of it. (: It is crazy that Macie and I have less than a month here in China! So little time, yet still so many more adventures to be had!

Me feeding one of the red pandas! :)

Singing some KTV :P

Selfie with all of our intern friends!

Paintings of the Titanic from the art market

Lazy little pandas. :)

Posing with the bae. ;)

Qi Xi loved playing in her crate!

Adventures in Chengdu

Name: Macie Smith

Class Year: Senior
Hometown: Beavercreek, OH
Internship: Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding
Location: Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

Well its official, Kelly and I have less than a month left here in China. It’s hard to believe that we're already over halfway through our journey here! We completed our inter-observer reliability test this week, which basically means we watched the same panda as we normally would without talking and then compared what we recorded afterwards. Through the 55 minute observation period we recorded all of the same data for proximities and only differed in recording the behavior once, so overall it went really well! We are still collecting as much data for the one year old giant panda cubs as we can and have been noticing differences in their personalities. We have been trying to hold off on analyzing the data so as not to bias our behavioral observations but we may begin figuring out how to analyze everything next week.

We have been able to see a few more training sessions with James and the adult giant pandas, which have been really interesting! We also are in the beginning stages of making enrichment for the one year old giant panda cubs that I hope we will be able to give to them in the next week or two. I'm excited to see how much the cubs actually interact with it! We also have been able to hand-feed apple slices with different colored glitter to the red pandas the afternoons before we go hunt for poop with the corresponding colored glitter. Below is a picture with one of the red pandas Kelly and I are able to feed and collect poop for!

Last weekend we went to an art/antique market to get souvenirs for our friends and families. We tried to put our Chinese skills to use and actually were able to bargain for some pretty good deals; or so we think at least. We also went to KTV with five of the interns we share a lab with here at the panda base and it was a lot of fun! KTV is essentially karaoke, only you and your friends have your own separate room to sing in and you’re able to have drinks and snacks sent to your room. There was a screen that you used to pick and change the order of the songs you sang; we tried to make it so every other song was in English or Chinese. The other interns thought I looked like Taylor Swift so I’m pretty sure they had Kelly and I sing at least ten of her songs, some of them two or three times! Not sure of a word in a T-Swift song? We might know it now! There are a few pictures of the Disney, Mickey and Minnie themed room we were in below. I definitely did not expect to spend over five hours there, but I guess time flies when you’re having fun!

In our Chinese lesson this upcoming weekend Kelly and I are supposedly going to introduce ourselves in Chinese… We’ll see how that goes! We also plan to visit the home town of one of the interns from the panda base and hopefully we’ll make it to Leshan to tour around and see the Giant Buddha. I’m definitely looking forward to whatever adventures we end up on this weekend!

 

photo credit: James Ayala

KTV!

The Modern Toilet restaurant 

in box: Zhen Duo (back) and Qi Xi (front)