I know that judging only from a picture isn't fair, but when I look at this one (and I remember others), I really wonder why Chinese officials command highest standards in Western zoos for the Giant Pandas on (expensive) loan, while in Chinese zoos they (the Pandas) can live in (much?) worser conditions...
I know that judging only from a picture isn't fair, but when I look at this one (and I remember others), I really wonder why Chinese officials command highest standards in Western zoos for the Giant Pandas on (expensive) loan, while in Chinese zoos they (the Pandas) can live in (much?) worser conditions...
@zirandelinghun: Thank you for the pictures. Indeed, - according to the pictures - the OUTSIDE exhibit looks much better and I would say more or less equal to those at western zoos. Still, I have the impression that some responsible persons in China do not claim the same quality for a panda exhibit in their own zoos as they do for foreign zoos.
zoomaniac is absolutely correct. The requirements enforced for foreign zoos to house pandas is far in excess of how pandas are kept in China. Usually a bare concrete indoors section (for ease of cleaning presumably) with glass viewing, while the outside is usually average-sized, grassed, with a platform or two, and usually viewed across a dry moat. They are mostly all the same. Pandas aren't housed badly in Chinese zoos, but they certainly aren't housed to the standard that foreign zoos must house them.
They are mostly all the same. Pandas aren't housed badly in Chinese zoos, but they certainly aren't housed to the standard that foreign zoos must house them.
I think its partly due to that rule of thumb again- that an endemic species is given only average housing in zoos in range countries, but often VIP housing elsewhere.
But in the Giant Panda's case I guess its got VIP status even in China though as they are freely available perhaps not quite to the same degree as in foreign Zoos. Abroad Zoos are so keen to have them they will meet any demands regarding throwing money at their housing, but most of it is just cosmetic. The Edinburgh indoor housing, from photos I've seen, is very simple as what else can you do for a bear-type species that just sleeps and eats much of the time. It just needs floor space and resting platforms. London's later Pandas in the Sobell (Monkey) Pavilions had equally basic indoor housing, similar to what is in this photo, even if it was more modern looking than in some of the Chinese zoos.
