A messy eater!

We spent the morning at the "Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding" - and what an amazing visit it was. Of the 1,000 Giant Pandas still in existence, about 10% live at this establishment which has a remarkable success rate of breeding them. We asked whether they release them into the wild but apparently not, as they wouldn't survive; however they do sometimes nurse sick wild ones back to health and they can be released again.

Several of them were enjoying their Bamboo meal, but we liked this one best (s)he was a very messy eater but we liked the laid-back pose.

They also have red pandas: they move much faster so were tricky to capture on camera but the first extra shows a rather cute one. We decided that they look a bit like a cross between a fox and a racoon!

The second extra shows a very pretty bird which we came across - we don't know its identity although my Editor thinks it may be a finch of some sort.

The final extra shows a snake we spotted as we walked round: we were intrigued by its blue tongue which it kept flicking out.