We have hit the half way mark! By now we all have our favorite panda and mine is Wu Gang! He was one of the first pandas I met when I arrived at the Bifengxia Panda Base, and he has continued to grow on me over the past several weeks.
Wu Gang is known for his adorable pink nose!
Wu Gang is one in a million for pandas because most Giant Pandas have completely black noses. Luckily for him he can easily be picked out on the Bifengxia Panda Base! Even though Wu Gang was born in the wild, assumed to be born in 1999, he still loves the attention from his keepers. He’s a very intelligent panda so if he hears “Wu Gang” he will most definitely look your way! So make sure to give him a shout out when you seem him out on the base.
Here at the panda base we are hoping and praying for another Wu Gang baby! We really hope he gets the chance to reproduce again this year and pass along his pink nose gene! His daughter Mei Xi unfortunately did not receive this gene. So, fingers crossed that his pink nose will dominant in his next baby!
–Stephanie Crider
Wu Gang’s son Wu Jie inherited his pink nose. In fact Wu Jie’s nose is completely pink now. Wu Jie is renamed as Kai Kai and he is staying in my country, Singapore River Safari now.
Amazing Elinor! We’d love pictures if you can share!
Hi Meg, not sure how can I share the photo here?
Alterrnatively you can google ‘Kai Kai River Safari’ and look for some of his more recent photo. Most of his photo will show him with black nose. This is because in 2012 when Kai Kai (Wu Jie) arrived in Singapore with Jia Jia, an female panda, his nose is still fully black. But his nose gradually turned pink by 2015 and now it is completely pink.
Btw, are you visiting or volunteering at Bifengxia Panda Base? I volunteered there in 2013 too.
Elinor, How interesting! I had no idea that their noses would change color over the years! So maybe his other offspring will develop the pink nose 🙂
I’m a postdoctoral researcher for the San Diego Zoo and Director of PDXWildlife. I did my PhD at Bifengxia from 2011-2014 so we may have seen each other if you were there during the breeding season 🙂 Thanks for sharing information on Wu Jie!
Hi Meg, I was there in Aug 2013, looking after Bai Yang and Zhen Zhen in Panda Villa No 3.
Here are some links of pictures found via google to show Kai Kai (Wu Jie) with his pink nose. Wu Jie also has a twin elder brother named Wu Jun, which I am not able to find any recent photo. Previous photo I found when he was still in Guangzhou showed him with a black nose.
Kai Kai with his black nose when he first arrived in Singapore
http://pandas.riversafari.com.sg/kai-kai.html
Kai Kai with his pink nose
https://goo.gl/images/OdPd4c
https://goo.gl/images/TuASoA
https://goo.gl/images/FuS2tv
https://goo.gl/images/8bpH36
https://goo.gl/images/2NvnRs
https://goo.gl/images/9KHdTJ
https://goo.gl/images/GaKCB8
https://goo.gl/images/C66vZE
https://youtu.be/feWdO_5nxy4
Thank you for the links! They’re so cute and Kai Kai does indeed have his dad’s pink nose!
I missed you in 2013 since I’m there mainly during the breeding season. Nate and interns would have been there though 🙂
I love hearing from you guys! Stephanie, I’m so happy you have a favorite panda! I have many favorites, for different reasons! They are all so wonderful I can’t narrow it down to just one! Keep up the good work! Let us hear from you again before your time is up!
Sincerely,
JoAnn Haynes Mann