Top 10 Facts about Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu

Chengdu, Sichuan, China: Entrance to Chengdu panda breeding and research center. Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas on Wikimedia

Top 10 Facts about Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, also called Chengdu panda base, is one of the best tourist destinations in China. It is located at the north Chengdu Suburb, only 10 km from the city. 

It was set up in 1987 with 6 sick and starving giant pandas saved from the wild nature. Chengdu panda base is now a sanctuary of more than 150 giant pandas and the world’s largest giant panda capture and scientific research base.

The base emphasizes scientific research and tourism and forms a suitable development model interpreting educative research, industry and tourism.

Learn more about the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu, in these top 10 facts.

1. Chengdu Research Giant Panda Base Has Suitable Climate for Pandas

The base covers 165 acres and is located 6 miles north of Chengdu in the Futou mountains. There are brooks, lakes, rivers, woods, and wild bamboo forests. All of these stimulate the best pandas’ natural ecological environment.

The landscape, enrichment, and climbing apparatuses create a natural and meaningful health environment for the pandas.

2. The Giant Panda Museum

Photo by Jimmyshjj on Wikimedia

The museum is located at the base and is the world’s only museum focusing entirely on the critically endangered giant pandas.

The museum has three main halls; the butterfly hall, the giant panda hall and the vertebrate hall. The halls have a variety of fossils, specimens, models, pictures, information and samples displayed here.

The museum displays specimens of panda food and many large true-to-life exhibits of giant pandas in their natural environment in ancient times and their present wild habitats. This section covers 300 square meters.

Most scientific displays are found in the museum and they give visitors a comprehensive education on their characteristics, distribution in the wild habitat and China’s conservation and breeding efforts.

There are also books and scientific literature in the museum that authors worldwide have written about giant pandas throughout history.

3. The Chengdu Panda Base Has a Different Variety of Pandas

The Chengdu base is well known as the best tourist destination to get closer to seeing rare breeds of pandas. At the base, there are giant pandas.

You can closely observe the giant pandas resting, playing with each other, eating, drinking, using enrichment toys and watching female pandas as they nurse their cubs in the nursery rooms.

If you have always wanted to see baby pandas, you can visit from July to September during the period of newborn panda babies.

At the Sunshine Nursery House and Moonlight Nursery House, you can see tens of supe5r cute pink pandas just a little larger than your palm lying in a row.

The Chengdu base has red pandas, ranked as the world’s No.13 adorable animal species by civil war in 2003 and found in an open closure. Red pandas are known for being clever.

4. Panda Breeding at Chengdu Panda base

Photo by Enricoroberto5 on Wikimedia

In the 1980s, six sick and starving giant pandas were rescued in the wild, leading to the establishment of the Chengdu giant panda base.

Using the rescue pandas’ offspring, the base has bred the world’s largest population of captive giant pandas.

The breading of the pandas has primarily depended on technological innovation. By the end of 2021, the base has bred a population of 215 pandas. The bred pandas have good individual health, genetic quality and behavioural health.

5. Research at Chengdu Panda Base

The base has made major strides in giant panda research, including feeding, reproduction and cub rearing, disease prevention and control, and genetic population management.

Over the past 30 years, innovative scientific research has tackled problems in key technologies, including breeding and cub feeding, disease control and population genetic management, artificial feeding and management and breaking bottlenecks.

The Chengdu panda base has received 72 major scientific research awards, had over 400 papers published in well-known journals, and was granted over 30 national patents. 

6. The Chengdu Panda Base Cub Nurseries

The panda base has two giant panda cub nurseries, the sun and moon. The female pandas give birth to 2 cubs at a time.

The giant panda’s main food source is bamboo, and they are nutrient deficient. Therefore, the mother panda cannot breastfeed both cubs. In the wild, panda mothers abandon their weaker cubs.

At the breeding centre, staff continually swap out the panda cubs. While one cub is with the mother, the other cub is sleeping away in a panda nursery.

7. The Chengdu Panda Base Conservation Education on Giant Pandas

Image by Zairon on Wikimedia

In 2000 the Chengdu base took the lead in public conservation education throughout the nation’s wildlife conservation system by establishing the department of popular science education.

With the counsel of the China wildlife conservation association (CWCA), the base drew upon the essence of the advanced concept and education methods. It rolled out an array of education programs at the base.

The education programs are also run in rural areas, urban communities, universities, kindergartens, and nationwide. Chengdu has won praise from young people, volunteers and animal lovers at home and abroad. The base collaborated with many countries and institutions, establishing a web of collaboration and contacts.

The panda base has won honours such as Global Top 500, National Base for Popular Science of Environment Protection, and National Youth Science and Technology Education base, among others.

8. Giant Panda Magazines

The Chengdu giant panda breeding centre publishes a quarterly magazine called giant panda. The magazine is available at hundreds of hotels in Sichuan province and Sichuan airlines’ passenger lounges.

The magazines are not available in the United States. Also, there is a WeChat account, panda institute.

9. Chengdu Panda Base Has Panda Souvenir Shops

There are giant panda souvenir shops at the entrance, museum lobby and sunning nursery room. Also, there is a panda bookstore in the sunning nursery.

The shops sell every panda-themed item, such as stuffed pandas, cell phone cases, and key chains apparel, among many others.

10. The Chengdu Base Has Spectacular Restaurant

The base has many restaurants where you can eat amazing food. The restaurant include; Bamboo restaurants, rose garden western food restaurants, panda time café and panda restaurant.

Bamboo restaurant socializes in bamboo-based delicacies, rose garden western food restaurant specializes in coffee, drinks and steak, panda time café specializes in coffee, drinks and pastries and pasta restaurant specialize in spaghetti Bolognese, Taiwanese braised pork and coffee.

All the restaurant offers amazing foods and drinks, and their staff are friendly. Also, one can enjoy the beautiful scenery as they eat.