The 2nd (in chronological order only!) 2016 Giant Panda Fall Intern is Celina Tu.  She’s a very talented, enthusiastic (Mandarin speaking!!!) young lady and I’m sure you’ll love reading about her passions below.  We were also lucky enough to host her lovely mother, Mary Tu, for a little while when she accompanied Celina to Ya’an in the first few days of her internship. I’ll be writing another blog post about that very soon (with the craziest pictures you’ve ever seen).  But without further ado – here’s Celina:

“HELLO EVERYONE! MY NAME IS CELINA TU! I’ve never written a blog before so I apologize in advance for any awkwardness.

So . . . I guess I should tell you about myself!

Celina the Adventurer

I graduated in 2015 from UC Davis  with a double major in animal science and psychology. Originally I intended to go into veterinary medicine after my Bachelors – a path determined early on in my animal-loving life; however, once I took my first animal behavior class my aspirations quickly changed. The topics and questions discussed in lectures were magnetic! The idea of animals as capable decision makers and learning about all the mechanisms they use to mitigate stress, that they weren’t just simple cause-and-effect machines, fascinated me!  I’m absolutely enthralled with understanding the black box of how animals experience and process pain (especially as society has moved beyond the question of if they feel pain) and the impact of poor welfare on not just physical, but cognitive levels within individuals and populations. It became clear to me in these early Animal Behavior classes that animals need to be helped not only inside veterinary hospitals but outside them as well.  It is absolutely vital to understand and intervene when captive animals experience stress which may manifest itself through behavioral indications, not just medical.

Celina loves all things great and small!

Thus, my current interests are focused on improving welfare and ethical treatment of both wild and domestic captive animals. Ultimately, I’d like to understand the cause and role of behavioral stereotypies in captivity and how they affect individual welfare. This panda internship seems custom made for me! Although the main component of the fall PDXWildlife research is primarily maternal care, we are also collecting data on stereotypical behavior that will be analyzed retrospectively for any factors that may cause or alter these behaviors. I’m going to get behavioral research experience in my area of interest AND work with Giant Pandas in China– how many people can say that!?

Anywho . . . I’m currently in my gap year (actually, now its gap years), and am working as a rehabilitation technician at the International Bird Rescue, a leading organization in aquatic avian oil-response and rehabilitation. I love every bit of it – even after 13-14 hours of intensive life-or-death care. I feel so lucky and proud to have the opportunity to help animals live a better life in this human world, whether it is through rehabilitation or through research. Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, I will be back in school next year to get my masters in animal behavior!

Well, I’ll stop there for now but look forward to sharing my adventures with you.

And just for your viewing pleasure, here is a picture of one of my chickens – her name is Chocolate:”

Celina’s chicken, Chocolate.

-Celina