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1/18/13 Panda Boot Camp Teaches Cubs Survival Skills | LiveScience
1/8www.livescience.com/26412-panda-cubs-boot-camp-wolong.html
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Panda Boot Camp Teaches Cubs Survival Skills
1/18/13 Panda Boot Camp Teaches Cubs Survival Skills | LiveScience
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In Wolong in the mountains of China, baby pandasare off limits to all but the people who monitor andcare for the animals. The pandas are raised inexpansive enclosures, filled with trees, bamboo andsteep slopes that mimic prime panda real estate.CREDIT: Photo by Sue Nichols. View full size image
by Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience ManagingEditorDate: 18 January 2013 Time: 01:45 PM ET
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Panda cubs have the cuteness thing down pat, but rough-and-tumble? Not so much. Now scientists are hoping toteach the roly-poly bears survival skills they'll need forliving in the wild.
The new mission is partly the result of a panda cub beingreleased into the wild without the proper training. XiangXiang, a male cub, was released into Wolong NatureReserve, located high in the mountains of westernChina's Sichuan Province, in April 2006. Unfortunately,Xiang Xiang wasn't prepared for the harsh reality of thewild. After less than a year of wandering the mountains,the cub was killed by neighboring males during turfwars.
Enter Tao Tao, a 2-year-old male panda currentlyroaming in Lipingzi Nature Reserve in southwesternChina. The cub went through a boot camp of sorts, andnow scientists are monitoring the furball with GPS.
Hemin Zhang, director of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong, and hiscolleagues realized after Xiang Xiang's death that panda upbringing is critical.
And the best time to teach a panda new tricks seems to be during the cub years, so Zhang's team, including Jianguo"Jack" Liu of Michigan State University, taught momma pandas how to relay crucial survival skills — foraging andavoiding predators — to their cubs. [Baby Panda Pics: See a Cub Growing Up]
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"Our people cannot teach a panda to live in the wild," Zhang said in a statement. "Now we leave the teaching to themomma." The momma panda and the humans who monitor the animals are the only individuals with access to thecubs. Even the human keepers must go undercover, wearing panda suits when interacting with the cubs.
The scarcity of human exposure keeps the pandas fearful of humans, a caution that will help the cubs survive in thewild, Zhang said.
In addition, cubs are kept on their tiptoes by reminders of predators, which come in the form of recordings ofvocalizations and scat spread around the enclosure from clouded leopards and other hungry threats. The reserve isalso home to some non-threatening species, such as pheasants, sheep and pigs.
So far, the scientists say, Tao Tao is doing fine, though they warn that the real test will come in the spring, or matingseason. During this season of love, Zhang said, competition between males can turn lethal.
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World's Cutest Baby Wild AnimalsImage Gallery: One-of-a-Kind Places on EarthButter Balls: Photos of Playful Pandas
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