Zoo director Helmut Pechlaner:

"The charismatic pandas are the ideal ambassadors of China. They come to Austria as a gesture of friendship and will not only generate interest for this vast and mysterious country, but will also promote global nature conservation for the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature). The enthusiasm that these symbolic creatures will trigger in the zoo's guests and friends will serve as a vehement reminder of all the fascinating creatures that are threatened with extinction by the human race."

Outside China's borders, only six zoological gardens are participating in the captive breeding and research projects and thereby support the activities of the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA).

Keeper Staff

The Panda staff in the Viennese zoo consists of five keepers. Their daily routine includes the cleaning of the enclosures, feeding the animals, medical training, weighing of the bears and choosing and applying enrichment items. To have control over changes in the bears' habits, a protocol sheet is written every day. Another aspect of the keepers' responsibilities is providing information for the visitors on info boards and during commented feedings.

Food

Around 50 to 60 kg of bamboo are fed to Yang Yang and Long Hui every day. Six to eight different bamboo species come from a bamboo plantation in southern France every other week. The bamboo is stored cool (~ 6°C) and wet and stays quite fresh till the next delivery comes. In one or two years additional bamboo from a new plantation in southern Austria will be incorporated. Besides bamboo only small amounts of pellets and vegetables are fed.

Enclosures

The panda enclosure consists of an inside enclosure 135 m and an outside enclosure 1128 m in size. Five further cages with an average size of 5.5 m are out of visitors' sight and are used for medical training, cognitive experiments and hopefully for giving birth to a baby Panda.

To give the pandas various possibilities for natural behaviour, their enclosure is very diverse and well structured. There are three ponds, a stream course, trees and bushes, numerous wooden platforms, three earth and wooden dens, climbing structures made of thick tree trunks, rocks and earth hills in the outside enclosure. The inside enclosure is also arranged with climbing structures, platforms, rocks and a wooden den. To have the possibility to separate the bears if necessary, the whole enclosure is divided into two parts with a glass wall. At the moment all parts are accessible for both pandas.

To protect the pandas from dry and hot summer days, a fog system was installed in the outside enclosure and the house can be cooled with three air conditioners.

Enrichment

Several enrichment items have already been tested with pandas. Other than haystacks only Yang Yang, the female Panda, shows interest in new objects, plays with them or tries to get the food pieces out of them. A boomer ball, paper sacks or carton rolls filled with hay and pellets and haystacks have been offered.

Also different odours and small amounts of honey were attached on stones and tree trunks in the inside enclosure. The bears mostly ignored it.

Training for medical care

To make medical checks easier and stress-free for the vets as well as for the pandas some of the keepers train the bears regularly. They are used to strike certain positions like standing upright, lying on the side, lying on the back, standing on all fours or sitting down. Therefore it is easy to take the body temperature, to make an ultrasound or to x-ray. Opening the mouth for dental checks or reaching the paws for claws and pad control also is no problem.

Research

Topics of study include:

• Development of the male and female gonad in giant pandas with non invasive methods
• Occurrence of stress related hormones in the faeces of Giant Pandas dependent on different situations
• Giant Pandas' visual abilities
• Food intake
• Behavioural observations

Giant Pandas in Vienna:
Natural behaviour because of a well-structured enclosure
by Dungl Eveline, Schratter Dagmar and Pechlaner Helmut ... [pdf]

DATA AND FACTS

GIANT PANDA

• Size: 160-180 cm
  
• Weight: 80-125 kg
  
• Lifespan: to 25 years (in the wild)
  
• Sexual maturity: at ca. 5 years
  
• Reproduction: 1-2 young (90-130 g) are born with white fur and take on the typical black and white panda pattern after about 1 month
  
• Distribution/Habitat: exclusively in SW-China, where they inhabit moist, cool bamboo-coniferous forests
  
• Characteristics: extremely solitary, good climbers, mostly vegetarian diet, yet with omnivorous dentition, no hibernation
  

The Chinese Wolong Nature Reserve and breeding center is the largest panda protection area in the world. No more than 150 giant pandas live here in the wild. Pandas feed largely on bamboo, although their short gut is not really suitable for so much plant food. Thus, the pandas consume enormous amounts of bamboo (up to 30 kg per day) in order not to starve. Their daily activity consists of 8 hours of feeding, 4 hours of sleep, whereby the same rhythm is maintained during the night.
The ever expanding human population in China is clearcutting increasingly large areas of bamboo forest. The people in the villages weave a variety of utensils from the bamboo cane, causing the forests to shrink and the pandas to starve.

LINKS

Giant Panda Species Survival Plan

WWF International: Giant Panda