Last Zoo Talk

The last Zoo Talk of the season today, and it was a corker!

‘Pandas - icons of conservation and Chinese Ambassadors’

We had Iain Valentine, RZSS Director of Pandas, and Graham Law, University of Glasgow.

Iain spoke passionately about pandas and how they are an iconic species, but also, with the conservation work and numbers in China, their population (more than the magic 300) is sustainable and successful.

In the 80s the Chinese used to lend pandas to countries in a ‘Please be our friend’ arrangement. Now it’s more: ‘You can be our friend’. They are also climatically adapted to live in Scotland, unlike some other zoos who have to spend a fortune keeping them cool. Anyway, he convinced me of the value of having a pair at Edinburgh Zoo, even though we pay China £50,000 a month and the food costs £70,000 a year.

Then came Graham, who stated that

‘Giant Pandas are the opium of the zoo world.’

‘Politicians and Pandas are a dangerous mix.’

He stunned us all with a graphic description of Artificial Insemination, where both animals are anaesthetised - knocked out cold - and the female perhaps more than once in a matter of a few hours. This is very invasive.

But there is no problem breeding in the wild. The problem is the way zoos manage them. All western zoos have two pandas. This is not normal practice in the wild, where the female gets to choose the male she wants. It’s all done on scent. If there is only one male, then there is unnatural sexual lethargy. It’s the aggression and rivalry that increases the urge to mate.

But zoos are not allowed to move their pandas. They are not allowed to bring in another male panda, from, say Belgium. They are in talks about using another male's scent. Iain is in the awkward position of negotiating with the Chinese, and ‘leading them along the path…’

Did you know that pandas eat meat? This is their favourite treat in the wild.

I should have had a photo of a panda today, but they were asleep and boring. Instead I give you another black and white star of the zoo - a wee Rockhopper. I think he’s a male, and those eyebrows will definitely have the lady rockhoppers rushing to nab him and his well built pebble nest.

This is an old panda/penguin story.