With some incredibly humid and hot weather over the last few days, we welcomed Katie, Katelin, & Hallie to our Bifengxia panda research program. Even though our sweaty handshakes would set the pace for the next few days, each of the interns have been hitting the ground running, giving their jet-lag a swift kick in the butt.

With bus transfers and countless bags to transport from Chengdu to Ya’an, our motley crew of six gathered numerous stares as we made our way to the apartment. Splitting into four rickshaws, nothing says “welcome” quite like an open air ride through a traffic filled city. I made everyone snap a photo of the Tourist Bus Station photo that I had on my phone with explicit instructions to wait at the entrance should we get lost. Oddly enough, only half of us ended up in correct location.

Your new fall interns- Katie, Katelin, & Hallie

After running through the back alleys to catch up to the two missing newbies, we reconnected and made our way up to our apartment. To say the least, I was excited to see that the previous intern group cleaned and detailed every inch, which means that I don’t have to put on my french maid outfit. Everyone chose their respective rooms and I departed to meet back up with Meghan & Dee at our hotel room. Agreeing to a dinner time, our tired group carved out a couple of hours to decompress, unpack, and soak up the new surroundings.

The following day, everyone went up to the panda base for a quick tour of our research and to meet all of the staff and bears. Making it a half-day, the second part was spent at the North Ya’an Police Station to register as foreigners staying in the city. This is only required when you don’t stay at a hotel. Otherwise, the hotel staff will automatically send this information in. Registering has become strictly enforced and you have to be careful about what you say or commit to in writing. As no one was arrested (or has ever been), we met back up for dinner before turning in for the night. The next day we returned to the panda base for the first day of data collection.

Over the next week, Katie, Katelin, & Hallie will be taught how to collect both stereotypic and maternal care observations, as well as how to operate a lyophilizer for preparing fecal samples. I’m excited to work with this diverse set of conservationists as they already seem to be picking up the concepts and asking all the right questions.

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Nate and Meghan make up the PDXWildlife panda team. We conduct the day-to-day operations. Design, implement and publish the research. Hire, train, and mentor each intern. And, do our best to share our stories with the public. You might see some pretty goofy photos of us on our website, but it just means that we really enjoy our work. If you would like to know more about our program or are interested in future internships, please email me directly- nate@pdxwildlife.com