Some Chinese people cannot tell a red panda from a racoon...

A

AdolfZhang

Member
Someone's post and photography at the Chinese website Weibo:
76567865.jpg

Translated to English: "I found this chicken - which I've forgotten its breed - was so colorful so I took a picture of it. In addition I love this racoon so much because I felt it was lazy enough. And the two pandas 'Xiwang' and 'Weiwei', I guess the Sichuan state should adopt them back, because they are only two individuals and being separated by the Wuhan Zoo, without companion...In a word, so pitiful. Look how lonely they are sprawling and eating when viewed from their backs.."

He used the word “品种”(breed) instead of “物种”(species), said "this chicken, which I've forgotten its breed". But in fact, the bird in the picture is a golden pheasant.

As the golden pheasant is named “红腹锦鸡” in Chinese, literally means "red-bellied brocade chicken", some Chinese people consider it as a breed of chicken.


Perhaps many Chinese people only know the giant panda is rare and conserved and endemic to China, while consider the red panda as "racoon", while consider the golden pheasant as a breed of chicken.
 
nanoboy said:
That Giant Panda enclosure in despicable.
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you sound like epickoala! Those photos are of the indoor enclosures, they also have planted outside enclosures as well. You can see them with a simple google search. (And regarding the comment in the blog about them being separated from one another and how it is so sad: giant pandas are solitary).
 
Chlidonias said:
you sound like epickoala! Those photos are of the indoor enclosures, they also have planted outside enclosures as well. You can see them with a simple google search. (And regarding the comment in the blog about them being separated from one another and how it is so sad: giant pandas are solitary).
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So you think that indoor enclosure that is visible to the public passes muster, just because they have a planted outdoor enclosure?
 
nanoboy said:
So you think that indoor enclosure that is visible to the public passes muster, just because they have a planted outdoor enclosure?
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You must be joking!

If you're serious then it's a good thing you don't work in any of the big zoos in the world, or you'd be disappointed at how dispicable they all are!

:rolleyes:

Hix
 
nanoboy said:
So you think that indoor enclosure that is visible to the public passes muster, just because they have a planted outdoor enclosure?
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it is an empty concrete shell with a wooden platform to sleep on. It certainly isn't ideal by any stretch, but my point was more that the photo is not showing the pandas' entire living space. You said the enclosure was despicable as if they were in there 24/7, and I was pointing out that the photo is not showing the whole situation. I never said anything about whether the indoor space was appropriate or not.

Indoor/off-display housing for animals in zoos is often very spartan. In fact I'd dare say that most giant pandas' indoor quarters are just concrete. It doesn't mean it is right, but it is only one part of the animals' living space. It is not the same as an animal stuck in a featureless box for its life.
 
Hix said:
You must be joking!

If you're serious then it's a good thing you don't work in any of the big zoos in the world, or you'd be disappointed at how dispicable they all are!

:rolleyes:

Hix
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I probably would be more disappointed with the zoo management for having your blase attitude rather than the condition of the enclosures.
 
Chlidonias said:
it is an empty concrete shell with a wooden platform to sleep on. It certainly isn't ideal by any stretch, but my point was more that the photo is not showing the pandas' entire living space. You said the enclosure was despicable as if they were in there 24/7, and I was pointing out that the photo is not showing the whole situation. I never said anything about whether the indoor space was appropriate or not.

Indoor/off-display housing for animals in zoos is often very spartan. In fact I'd dare say that most giant pandas' indoor quarters are just concrete. It doesn't mean it is right, but it is only one part of the animals' living space. It is not the same as an animal stuck in a featureless box for its life.
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Well that's a fair point then. If they do have access to an outdoor enclosure then that's great. I assumed that since they painted bamboo on the walls that maybe it was a permanent enclosure, like the infamous kea glass case at one of the American zoos.
 
I don't have a blase attitude, just a practical one. Most large carnivores and primates often have simple concrete indoor or nighthouses because it it works in a practical sense. Easy to clean and disinfect, and heat - especially important if you have a sick animal. It also makes it easier for the vet to observe the animal and administer medications/tranquilisers etc. Most good zoos - including Melbourne, Adelaide and Taronga - have indoor enclosures like this.

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
Most large carnivores and primates often have simple concrete indoor or nighthouses because it it works in a practical sense. Easy to clean and disinfect, and heat - especially important if you have a sick animal. It also makes it easier for the vet to observe the animal and administer medications/tranquilisers etc. Most good zoos - including Melbourne, Adelaide and Taronga - have indoor enclosures like this.
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I understand: The most important factor for some zoos (even the good ones?) is to keep the benefits on the human side.
 
AdolfZhang said:
Someone's post and photography at the Chinese website Weibo:
76567865.jpg

Translated to English: "I found this chicken - which I've forgotten its breed - was so colorful so I took a picture of it. In addition I love this racoon so much because I felt it was lazy enough. And the two pandas 'Xiwang' and 'Weiwei', I guess the Sichuan state should adopt them back, because they are only two individuals and being separated by the Wuhan Zoo, without companion...In a word, so pitiful. Look how lonely they are sprawling and eating when viewed from their backs.."

He used the word “品种”(breed) instead of “物种”(species), said "this chicken, which I've forgotten its breed". But in fact, the bird in the picture is a golden pheasant.

As the golden pheasant is named “红腹锦鸡” in Chinese, literally means "red-bellied brocade chicken", some Chinese people consider it as a breed of chicken.


Perhaps many Chinese people only know the giant panda is rare and conserved and endemic to China, while consider the red panda as "racoon", while consider the golden pheasant as a breed of chicken.
Click to expand...

Sadly this ignorance is not unique to China. We hear similar comments in zoos around the world.
What is the Chinese name for red panda?
 
I totally agree with you Zooplantman, the ignorance about animals it's extend worldwide.
 
I believe this sort of indoor Panda accomodation is still pretty typical in Zoos and Breeding centres in China? Some years ago the eminent American zoologist George Schaller commented in his book 'The Last Giant Panda' on the indoor enclosures for the Pandas at (I think it was) Wolong- as entirely unsuitable 'barren concrete cells exposed to the wind', where the Pandas subsisted largely on a diet of Rice Porridge which caused them digestive problems, instead of the proper Bamboo diet (but I digress as that's a different matter). I don't know how much things may have changed since then housing-wise.

It seems to me most Pandas in China have access to larger naturalistic outdoor areas too-but only for limited periods which may be further reduced by having to time-share them with other Pandas. So much(the greater?) time is spent in these bare indoor areas.

Of course in Zoos outside of China, greater effort and expense is perhaps made to supply a more aethsetically pleasing effect with the indoor accomodation for such celebrated animals, though as others have said, such housing is still basically a floor and some form of raised wooden platforms or rockwork for resting on.

In these photos, the Bamboo murals on the walls just seem to highlight what these Pandas have lost in exchange for their present existence (whether they are captive bred or otherwise)- the freedom to roam the mountains and live a natural life in the bamboo zone.
 
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