We are still hard at work with our reintroduction project and things are finally starting to go a lot more smoothly. As with any new study, there are speed bumps and things that occur which you didn’t consider at the beginning of the study. This requires being flexible throughout the entirety of the study. One of the major components that we have been refining over the past month is the behavioral ethogram, which we are using to characterize the behaviors that the reintroduction candidates are exhibiting in response to our novel objects. We started with the behavioral ethogram that PDXWildlife’s personality study utilized, and altered it to include more specific behaviors relevant to reactions from scent markings. This has Nicki and I constantly scoring the same video, and then comparing it to how Meghan would have scored it, then we discuss what would be the best fit for each individual behavior exhibited.

We have finished our first set of 8 trials with Qin Xin and Shu Qin at Hetaoping, and have moved onto another mother/cub pair at Hetaoping. We also started studying the cubs in the Shenshuping Kindergarten (Chu Xin and Pang Niu) with the same 8 trials. Instead of setting up cameras in these enclosures, like in Hetaoping and Tiantaishan, we set the novel object/scent in their enclosure and then to a real time scoring of their behaviors for a 1-2 hour period. This will allow us to do a couple things. First, we can create a baseline of behaviors on completely captive bears that aren’t in the larger reintroduction enclosures, but have a larger exposure to humans. Second, by doing a real time scoring, we are able to see everything they do in their enclosure, and not just what is captured by the camera traps. This will allow us to compare the data to what we capture on the cameras, in order to make sure that we are seeing everything that we should be seeing. It also allows me and Nicki to sit and do nothing but watch panda cubs for an hour, which is always a good thing.

On a more personal side, we are finally settled into a routine in Gengda, something that can be hard to do with how different China is than what we are used to in the US. We have favorite restaurants, stores, and spots in town, and almost everyone seems to recognize us now. We are always met with smiles from people we pass, including an older gentleman we call grandpa who always makes a point to stop us in the street, say hello, and have us shake his grandkids hand. We also recently took a quick 7 hour trip to Hong Kong in order to renew our visas. We met up with a former roommate of mine from college who lives there now, and were given a quick tour of the city.

If you have any questions about Gengda, the Shenshuping Kindergarten, or our reintroduction work in Hetaoping/Tiantaishan, please leave a comment! Talk soon!

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Zack, our reintroduction field lead, will be in Gengda until the end of October. Along with Nicki, they get to conduct some pretty amazing novel research on both adult and young panda bears. The results from this work will assist the CCRCGP in identifying reintroduction bears, suitable for release into the wild. Keep up the hard work Zack & Nicki!