------Program code: NS-081016-02829 (what's this?)
Source: CCTV.com
10-16-2008 10:30
In a narrow cave on the south slope of the Qinling Mountains, a female panda Qinya was born. She still hasn’t opened her eyes. She looks quite small in her mother’s arms. Little Qinya cries loudly, afraid of being crushed by her mother.
It will take two years for Qinya to grow. She will face numerous difficulties and hardships.
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This is Yong Yan’ge, a well-known expert in panda research. He took these pictures. In the past thirty years, he has uncovered many secrets about pandas. He now wants to gain a deeper understanding of how they live in the wild.
Sanguan Temple is located among the mountains at the southern slope of the Qinling mountains, which is 1,500 meters high. It has the widest distribution of pandas in Qinling, almost one panda per square kilometer. It’s the ideal place for panda research. However, it’s not easy to observe pandas here. It requires walking an 8 km mountain path. Yong Yan’ge has been surveying along the path for over ten years.
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Although pandas live in the deep forest and like to roam alone, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t aware of other pandas.
Besides sound, the pandas communicate with each other by smell. The odors they leave tells other pandas “I am here” or “I have been here”. Just by smell, pandas are able to tell which female companion is in estrous.
It’s by accident that Yong Yan’ge met little Qinya. During one of his observations, he discovered Qinya and her mother.
Pandas have weak eyesight but an acute sense of hearing. They surround their habitat with dry branches so that if other animals step on the branches they’ll immediately be heard. Pandas are afraid of sound.
The mother panda has become familiar Yong Yan’ge’s smell and ignores him. Although he’s done research for many years, Yong Yan’ge has never seen a mother panda and cub together. He named the mother panda “Spring” and her cub “Qinya”.
One day in September, the research team accidentally discovered little Qinya was at home alone. It was quite abnormal since Qinya was only several weeks’ old. She should stay with her mother. But where was her mother Spring?
In the past, when people saw the young panda alone in the wild, they would think it was abandoned by its mother and would take them into captivity. Nine out of ten of these young pandas couldn’t survive. Yong Yan’ge was so worried about Qinya that he went to the mountains several miles away to find her mother despite the pain in his knees.
Seeing little Qinya lying on the ground alone, Yong Yan’ge couldn’t help but hold her up. But he put her down soon.
As expected, the team members found her mother Spring fetching food not far from the cave. She came back soon when hearing the cry of the young. At last Yong Yan’ge could relax.
Qinling’s harsh weather conditions test the researchers’ determination. When it rains, it’s very cold on the mountains and there usually no sign of when it will clear up. Yong Yan’ge appeared restless and worried about little Qinya.
Yong Yan’ge has stayed with Qinya and her mother for days. Little Qinya is three months’ old and still nursing. The bamboo that they live on was just her toy.
The mother panda came back after finding food. Unexpectedly, she decided to take Qinya away from there. Did she find some wild animals around or did she begin to be suspicious about them?
