Scientists Dressed As Pandas Release Baby Pandas Into Wild (PHOTOS)

Humans dressed as pandas. No, it's not Halloween and it's not Disneyland. It is China's Wolong Panda Reserve.

In this protected area of Sichuan forest, researchers are pulling out all the stops to try and reintroduce Giant Pandas into the wild. According to The Telegraph, workers are dressing in panda costumes to minimize human contact with real pandas returning from captivity. Four pregnant pandas were released earlier this year, and now conservationists are monitoring a four-month-old captive-bred cub 24 hours a day on CCTV.

The conservationists aren't acting overly cautious, given their past failures. In 2006, a male cub was released into the wild, and was subsequently found dead 10 months later, presumed murdered by truly wild pandas.

Unfortunately, the Giant Panda is seriously endangered. In the last 20 years, their natural habitat has shrunk by fifty percent, leaving less than a few thousand pandas alive in the wild.

Fortunately, conservationists are finally making headway, and now have over 300 captive pandas at the breeding center.

Check out photos of the researchers dressed as pandas releasing pandas into the wild below.

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In this Friday, Dec. 3, 2010 photo, a four-month-old panda cub is picked up for a physical exam before it is released into the wild by a panda researcher who dressed up as a giant panda to prevent the panda cub seeing human shape at the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve Center in Wolong, in southwest China's Sichuan province. Panda researchers in southwestern China's Sichuan province are working to reintroduce giant pandas into the wild within 15 years, after successfully breeding them in captivity. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

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In this Friday, Dec. 3, 2010 photo, a four-month-old panda cub is picked up for a physical exam before it is released into the wild by a panda researcher who dressed up as a giant panda to prevent the panda cub seeing human shape at the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve Center in Wolong, in southwest China's Sichuan province. Panda researchers in southwestern China's Sichuan province are working to reintroduce giant pandas into the wild within 15 years, after successfully breeding them in captivity. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT

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Comments

[IndyGuy]

02:19 PM on 12/17/2010

I can understand why they would want to disguise themselves from the little one. My dad worked for a scientific organization and one year he purchased an incubator. One of the scientists there gave us some fertilized Mallard duck eggs and my family kept watch. We all got to pick an egg to care for and to help hatch. After the ducks were born they imprinted on you and they'd follow you everywhere outside. Even after we released them, when they were old enough, they'd come up to us at my uncle's pond. They were so cute and it was a great experience!

Unfortunately they weren't as afraid of humans as most wild Mallards, and two of them where shot in the woods near the house. They had a habit of coming up close to people so they were easy targets. I'm sure these researchers want to do their best to keep these young ones safe from poachers by not allowing them to become comfortable with humans.

[werc]

04:34 PM on 12/10/2010

We’re happy to see that the anti-habituating methods pioneered 14 years ago by the Wildlife Education & Rehabilitation Center (Morgan Hill, California) are now being used around the world for different species, such as this panda. In 1994, W.E.R.C. developed the protocols, based on existing birds-of-prey anti-imprinting techniques, in order to raise an orphaned, new-born bobcat so that it would remain wild once it was released back to its native habitat. To remain as unlike a human as humanly possible, a person wears a full-body costume that’s been scented with bobcat urine and herbs, “walks” on hands and knees, and utters no sounds. We realize that we can never look like a real bobcat mother, but it helps ensure that the kitten never sees or interacts with a human in a positive way. These methods have proven successful with the more than 35 orphaned bobcats W.E.R.C. has raised and released. The methods can be adapted for other predatory mammals that require social interaction as they learn to hunt successfully in the wild and that may be endangered or become a danger if negligently raised and habituated to humans. Videos of W.E.R.C.’s bobcat rehabilitation can be viewed at www.werc-ca.org.

[Yorksgal]

12:36 AM on 12/11/2010

Brilliant!

I was wondering about the panda scent and you have explained it.

Keep up the great work.

[Js420]

07:44 PM on 12/09/2010

How cute! Good job guys. Thanks

[StatsNpolls1]

03:43 PM on 12/09/2010

BABY? pandas released? Where to? Alaska?

They look so adorably delicious..

[Julie Zhou]

06:18 PM on 12/15/2010

You are sick!

[Broadway96]

05:18 PM on 12/08/2010

That baby is going to think adult Pandas are HUGE..lol

[Thisbeautifulplanet]

09:45 AM on 12/08/2010

I wish the Chinese respected ALL animal species as much as pandas.

[catbyte]

09:42 AM on 12/08/2010

The little panda is going to mighty surprised that real pandas don't talk upright! That said, the cuteness factor is off the charts.

[Imno Genius]

09:28 AM on 12/08/2010

Sarah Putin shoots Moose:...s­ome sport...ki­­lling a defenseles­­s animal with a high-power­­ed shotgun for no good reason...m­­e thinks she envies a member?

[Captain Crunch]

09:10 AM on 12/08/2010

Probably cubs are thinking humans are silly but I applaud those scientists effort.

[JStading]

11:38 PM on 12/07/2010

Mmmmmm more wild Panda.  I find the free range Panda to be the most delictable, particularly when served as a pate with a side of truffle.

[ThomasPaine1776]

10:57 PM on 12/07/2010

It's re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

[oblivion awaits]

10:54 PM on 12/07/2010

this just in "poachers shoot scientist in panda suit".
The photographer was was in a panda suit, the scientist was in a panda suit, the driver was in a panda suit, everybody was in a panda suit, except for the panda.

[Returners]

10:50 PM on 12/07/2010

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1864604.ece


“Xiang Xiang died of serious internal injuries in the left side of his chest and stomach by falling from a high place,” Heng Yi, an official from the Wolong Giant Panda Research Centre in Sichuan, said in a telephone interview.

“The scratches and other minor injuries caused by other wild pandas were found on his body,” he said.




According to Li Desheng, deputy director of the Wolong centre, Xiang Xiang’s case proves that wild panda communities are reluctant to accept male outsiders.

“We chose Xiang Xiang because we thought that a strong male panda would have a better chance of surviving in the harsh natural environment,” Mr Li was quoted as saying.

“But the other male pandas clearly saw Xiang Xiang as a threat. Next time we will choose a female panda.”

State media reported last year that Xiang Xiang hesitated for a second when the door of his cage was opened, then scampered off into a nearby bamboo forest where he was tracked by a global positioning device attached to his collar.

He has been buried at the foot of a mountain, about 13 kilometres (8 miles) from the Wolong centre, Li said.

[Oma Ruth]

09:49 PM on 12/07/2010

Many readers are voicing the same concern(s). It would be nice if an expert would weigh in on this.

[David Christensen]

09:23 PM on 12/07/2010

Ah so this is what former Disneyland employees do.