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PANDA
EXPLORATION TOUR
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Briefings The giant panda as the "living fossil" has lived in China for three million years. Over the centuries, as the climate changed, so the panda's range changed. More recently, human habitation has narrowed the panda's home environment to a few pockets of forests in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. Since then laws were placed in protecting pandas reserves set aside by the Chinese government especially for panda conservation. Of these 16 reserves 11 are in Sichuan. Moreover, the total number of the giant panda at a round figure of 1000, most of them in 28 counties of north and north-western Sichuan. Highlights & Features Wolong Natural Reserve lies 140 kilometer northwest of Chengdu, about 4-5 hours by bus. The Natural Reserve was set up in late 1970s'. In 1980 the Giant Panda Research and Protection Center was set up by the Chinese Government in cooperation with the World Wild Fund of Nature (WWF). At the same year the Wolong Natural Reserve was accepted by UNESCO as member of MAB natural reserve network. As the "Hometown of Giant Panda", Wolong Natural Reserve is situated in the transitional zone between the Sichuan basin and Tibetan plateau, covers an area of 2000 square kilometer. Except the giant panda, various ecology environment also provide a habitation for many rare animal and plants. Some 103 mammals, 281 birds, 21 reptiles, 1700 insects and 4000 plant species are found in the reserve. It was reputed as " the Gene bank of nature species" and "natural animals and plants field". In stead of those, rich animal and specimen displaying house with big scale, growing modern glacier and historical remains of ancient glacier. There is conservation and research center for the giant panda and giant panda breeding station. Since Wolong Natural Reserve is far away from hubbub, wild life, the various plantation, primeval forests, snowy mountains will make you embrace the whole nature, cleanse pollution, forget yourself and posses a extremely wonderful world. The Giant Panda Breeding Center About 6 kilometer north of the zoo, this research station and breeding ground for both giant and lesser pandas has been in operation since 1990, but was opened to the public only in early 1995. About 12 to 14 pandas currently reside at the base. The base now cover about 36 hectares, but the breeding ground area ins projected to grow to over 230 hectares sometime early in the next century. Except dig some research work like artificial insemination of panda, the center is also like a natural park and let visitor to see a live panda in something resembling its natural habitant. Chengdu Zoo Chengdu zoo is in the northern suburbs of the city, surrounded by gardens. It covers 18 hectares, with 250 odd varieties of animals living in the beautiful and comfortable halls, houses, ponds and fenced-up mounds, which are scattered amidst green trees and colorful flowers. One unique feature of the zoo is the panda houses, spacious and ingeniously designed, shaded among bamboo and surrounded by ditches. They are really good homes for the giant and lesser pandas and, of course, the pandas are the tourist highlight. The Chengdu Zoo is the world's most successful breeder of pandas by artificial insemination. In recent years, tourists from different continents have arrived in a continuous flow to see pandas in their hometown and pandas of the Chengdu zoo have also traveled abroad to charm people of different countries. |
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