Posted on 08/31/2006 1:24:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A week-old giant panda cub has received her own blog as China seeks to raise public awareness about protecting the endangered animal, state media said Monday.
The blog, named "Baby Panda Home", has debuted on the Sina website. It features photos, regular updates on the panda's growth and discussions among online panda fans.
The panda blog is designed and written in a deliberately childish style, as it describes life at the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center near the city of Chengdu in southwest China.
"Mummy says it will be very hot outside today. So we'll stay together inside where the air-con is on," said one entry.
The yet-to-be-named female panda cub was born on August 13, weighing just 130 grams (4.55 ounces) at the time of delivery, as part of a mini-baby boom reported by the nation's artificial breeding program.
Zhang Zhihe, head of the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center in southwest China, told state-run Xinhua news agency the blog was meant to raise public awareness, especially among young people, of panda protection.
The famously sexually inactive giant pandas are among the world's most endangered animals.
Their traditional homes have been the mountains of central and southern China, as well as Myanmar and Vietnam.
But their numbers have fallen to only around 1,590 in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan in China's southwest, according to Chinese estimates, as their natural habitats have been destroyed by humans.
Just over 180 more pandas are in research centers in China, with a handful of others around the world in zoos.
I love pandas. They taste like chicken.
I wonder if it's difficult to type with big, furry paws.
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