Pandas - social distancing role models
Did you know that pandas are solitary animals? They're on their own most of the year and come together during mating season only. Good role models for our troubled times.
Pandas are my favourite animal - bumbling, oblivious furballs intent on eating shoots and leaves. There's something absolutely adorable about their colouring, particularly their eye patches.
I can't help but coo when I look at them. Have you seen those videos of panda babies, frolicking, and gamboling and falling over? Turns me into goo.
Lat year, some good friends came to visit from London, and it was a great opportunity to visit the River Safari at the Zoo.
The pandas delivered.
The red panda was adorable. He was furry and, yes, red and genuinely perplexed about the bevy of people standing in front of his branch.
"Why are these beings here? Why do they come in groups? Why are they staring at me?"
Then came the giant pandas, Kai Kai and Jia Jia.
Kai Kai sat in his man cave, completely absorbed in stripping and munching his eucalyptus.
It was a delight drawing him. He was very considerate: he stayed in one place and I got to draw him as he had his snack.
Jia Jia was not at her enclosure. She is pregnant and wanted to be away from the crowds. We could watch her on a TV screen as she dozed in an area that we did not have access to.
So panda porn was created as an educational tool. What a great excuse to watch porn ; )
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| Kai Kai at the River Safari, Singapore Zoo |
Pandas are my favourite animal - bumbling, oblivious furballs intent on eating shoots and leaves. There's something absolutely adorable about their colouring, particularly their eye patches.
I can't help but coo when I look at them. Have you seen those videos of panda babies, frolicking, and gamboling and falling over? Turns me into goo.
Lat year, some good friends came to visit from London, and it was a great opportunity to visit the River Safari at the Zoo.
The pandas delivered.
The red panda was adorable. He was furry and, yes, red and genuinely perplexed about the bevy of people standing in front of his branch.
"Why are these beings here? Why do they come in groups? Why are they staring at me?"
 |
| The red panda - he looks like a fox! |
Then came the giant pandas, Kai Kai and Jia Jia.
Kai Kai sat in his man cave, completely absorbed in stripping and munching his eucalyptus.
It was a delight drawing him. He was very considerate: he stayed in one place and I got to draw him as he had his snack.
Jia Jia was not at her enclosure. She is pregnant and wanted to be away from the crowds. We could watch her on a TV screen as she dozed in an area that we did not have access to.
 |
| Kai Kai having his eucalyptus snack |
Panda porn
Did you know that there is such a thing as panda porn? Pandas apparently are having difficulty reproducing not because they aren't into mating but because they can't figure out what to do!So panda porn was created as an educational tool. What a great excuse to watch porn ; )
Panda diplomacy
Have you heard of panda diplomacy? I've just found out about it and find it a fascinating subject.
Apparently, pandas have been gifted by the Chinese government to other nations for some time, since 685 it seems. The interesting thing here is that there is a method by which nations are given/lent pandas, and this is determined by China's foreign policy.
In the 1950s, pandas were gifted to the USSR to strengthen relations with a communist ally. However, when China began opening up in the late 1970s, it gifted the US, the UK, France, Germany, Japan and Mexico with pandas. The majority of these countries were formidable powers at the time and the pandas were part of an attempt to form closer ties with them.
This is why it's called panda diplomacy.
There's much more to this such as
1) why pandas (cute furry, non-threatening)
2) the type of power involved (soft power)
3) the transformation of this gifting practice into an economic exchange (renting pandas) and
4) conservation.
I now see the pandas in the zoo not just as cuddly cuties but also as clueless Chinese ambassadors.
Apparently, pandas have been gifted by the Chinese government to other nations for some time, since 685 it seems. The interesting thing here is that there is a method by which nations are given/lent pandas, and this is determined by China's foreign policy.
In the 1950s, pandas were gifted to the USSR to strengthen relations with a communist ally. However, when China began opening up in the late 1970s, it gifted the US, the UK, France, Germany, Japan and Mexico with pandas. The majority of these countries were formidable powers at the time and the pandas were part of an attempt to form closer ties with them.
This is why it's called panda diplomacy.
There's much more to this such as
1) why pandas (cute furry, non-threatening)
2) the type of power involved (soft power)
3) the transformation of this gifting practice into an economic exchange (renting pandas) and
4) conservation.
I now see the pandas in the zoo not just as cuddly cuties but also as clueless Chinese ambassadors.
Panda sneeze
Finally, I'll leave you with something to giggle about
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