China News Service, Chengdu, March 3rd: "Pandaren": Overcoming the "Three Dilemmas" with Giant Pandas for 13 Years

　　Author Miao Ying

　　At 8:00 a.m. on the 1st, Zeng Wen, a breeder of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, arrived at the Dujiangyan Base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda early. After putting on his overalls and rain boots, Zeng Wen began his day's work: cleaning the pens, observing the giant pandas harvested yesterday. Food, excretion and mental state of giant pandas.

After cleaning the house, Zeng Wen placed fresh bamboo leaves for the pandas to eat.

　　Zeng Wen, 36, has been working at the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center for 13 years.

Over the past 13 years, Zeng Wen has been with giant pandas day and night, and is familiar with the breeding and management of giant pandas of all ages. He and his colleagues collectively overcome the "three difficulties" of giant pandas - difficulty in estrus, difficulty in breeding and conception, and difficulty in raising and surviving.

As the winner of the 2021 "Dujiangyan Craftsman", Zeng Wen and the giant panda have an inseparable love.

Zeng Wen feeds the giant panda.

Photo courtesy of Dujiangyan City Rong Media Center

　　After feeding the bamboo, Zeng Wen began to prepare concentrated feed.

The breakfast feed that day was carrots and steamed buns.

In Panpan Garden No. 5, the giant panda "Xiuyang" can't wait.

The two-and-a-half-year-old giant panda is in the growth stage. After eating bamboo outdoors, "Xiuyang" returned to the shed to wait for feeding. He made a "huhuhuu" sound in his mouth and stretched out his palm to ask for something.

Zeng Wen tapped "Xiu Yang"'s nose to coax him to sit up, as if to say "Xiu Yang is good and eats well".

After breakfast, "Xiuyang" went out to play alone.

　　"When I was a child, one of the elders in the family was a giant panda researcher. Maybe he was influenced by him. I especially liked giant pandas. I majored in zoology at university. After graduation, I naturally became a giant panda breeder." Zeng Wen said, Pandas are like relatives who get along with each other day and night. You can unlock all the "passwords" on pandas without talking.

　　In getting along with giant pandas, Zeng Wen is familiar with the feeding and management of giant pandas of all ages, including emotional expression, growth, and development patterns.

Once, Zeng Wen received the task of raising a giant panda weighing only over 50 grams.

The average birth weight of giant panda cubs is more than 100 grams, and it is difficult to feed very low-weight cubs, and it is a great challenge to ensure their survival.

"Everyone stayed 24 hours a day, and lived and ate in the giant panda's artificial nursery for more than ten days. In the end, the giant panda survived successfully." Zeng Wen said.

　　As the backbone of the core technology of artificial giant panda breeding, Zeng Wen has fed more than 150 surviving giant panda cubs and completed the transformation of food for more than 100 giant pandas, achieving a survival rate of 100%.

Zeng Wen has also trained more than 10 artificial nursery technicians for domestic and foreign giant panda scientific research cooperation units and units.

Zeng Wen cleans the giant panda enclosure.

Photo courtesy of Dujiangyan City Rong Media Center

　　At the same time, Zeng Wen has also participated in the breeding and mating of giant pandas for more than 1,000 times, and can independently complete core technical tasks such as manual replacement of cubs and manual milk collection.

Giant pandas usually mate once a year, and the estrus period is mainly concentrated in March and April.

During the mating process, there is often a situation where one party likes it, but the other party "doesn't feel it".

In this regard, Zeng Wen said that in this case, we must be good at observing and seize the opportunity to create conditions for giant pandas. "On the one hand, training should be carried out to let giant pandas learn mating methods; , or fight an 'ambush' to prevent the two sides from meeting, thereby stimulating interest."

　　Zeng Wen's current research projects include "Comparative Research on the Growth and Development of Giant Pandas in Artificial Parenting, Semi-Artificial, Full-Artificial, and Maternal Animals (0-120 Days Old)", "As one of many 'Pandaren', In the future, we will work with colleagues to promote the protection of giant pandas." Zeng Wen said.

(over)