Travel Tales
NHA Staff Naturalist Brad Josephs just returned from leading the first of two Natural Habitat nature adventures in China’s less traveled mountain country. These trips explore remote mountains and forests of Sichuan and the Tibetan Plateau, areas of China that are rarely seen by foreigners.
Nature & Wildlife
Zookeepers at Zoo Atlanta were like proud grandparents on Monday, excitedly awaiting the arrival of giant panda Lun Lun’s newest cub. To their delight, they were surprised with a second twin cub born 2 minutes after the first one. These were the first twin panda cubs born in the United states since 1987.
Travel Tales
Nat Hab expedition leader Brad Josephs just got back from leading the first two groups of our brand new China trip, The Wild Side of China: A Nature Odyssey. The success of the itinerary was beyond our wildest expectations, no pun intended!
Nature & Wildlife
Moms love us unconditionally, they are the glue of our families, and they work extremely hard usually receiving little praise in return. This is every bit as true in the animal kingdom as well.
Videos
Giant pandas are among the world’s most uncommon and elusive animals. China’s State Forestry Administration estimates that there are only about 1,600 of them remaining in the wild, down from 2,500 in the 1970s. They inhabit the mountainous regions of China’s Sichuan (1,200 pandas), Shaanxi (300 pandas) and Gansu (100 pandas) Provinces.
Conservation
When images of a wild giant panda gnawing on a takin carcass in China’s Sichuan Province were recently captured on motion-sensor cameras, researchers were caught by surprise. Although pandas are technically carnivores, their diets today consist almost entirely (99 percent) of bamboo leaves, stems and shoots.
Nature & Wildlife
Like fragments of glass, 114 lakes shimmer across the landscape of Sichuan’s Jiuzhaigou National Park on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Indeed, legend relates that the lakes originated in the shattering of a mirror presented to the beautiful goddess Woluo Semo by an adoring mortal.
Nature & Wildlife
As the winter passes on my thoughts turn away from the polar bears and grizzlies of 2010 and to the coming adventures of 2011. The first on the calendar for me will be guiding the Natural Habitat Wild and Ancient China trips this May and June. Am I excited?
Nature & Wildlife
Bears. Are there any wild animals more more engaging, more charming, more daunting, or more fascinating? Take our 10-question quiz to see how much you know about bears!
Conservation
You may have caught the news recently about a very special FedEx delivery to China’s Sichuan province: aboard the company’s custom-appointed 777 jet were two distinguished passengers, headed from the U.S. to the Chengdu Panda Base. They traveled in plexiglass crates accompanied by an entourage of caretakers, a vet, and a FedEx staffer.
Conservation
A recent article on CNN.com cites a report that China’s Sichuan earthquake of last May destroyed a quarter of wild giant pandas’ habitat, and some 60% of giant pandas overall were affected by the quake.
