Free Republic

<p>Pandas. Zoos want them, other bears want to be them (maybe?). But are they really worth all the trouble? Let's fight about it: Point: Pandas Are Awesome!</p> <p>Counterpoint: Pandas Are Terrible!</p> <p>I just want to get this straight right off the bat: I really don't hate pandas.* I just love nature. And nature has made it clear in no uncertain terms that pandas need to die. Now.</p>

A university teacher has plans to grow green tea using panda manure as fertilizer and sell it at sky-high prices, the West China City Daily reported. An Yanshi, a teacher at southwest China's Sichuan University, learned during a conference that pandas only absorb 30 percent of what they eat, leaving 70 percent of the nutrition in their manure. He then secured a patent to grow tea leaves with panda dung. He expects to sell the tea for 219,865 yuan ($34,422) for half of a kilogram. An's version will be priced 10 times higher than the most expensive tea on the...

It gives a whole new meaning to pandering to the kids. But in this case it’s a matter of survival. Chinese conservationists are dressing up in fluffy panda costumes as they help prepare captive-born cubs to live in the wild.

The local news in Washington, D.C., is making a big deal about the return of the National Zoo’s panda, Tai Shan, to his native China to, ahem, participate in a breeding program. The departure is “breaking the hearts” of the district’s many panda fans, the Washington Post reported. Zoo officials even plan a major going-away party. But apparently pandas only fly first class, and that requires lots of costly jet fuel, generating plenty of carbon emissions.

Pandas face a difficult future, despite great efforts to preserve them. With their dwindling population, shrinking habitat, and weakening genetic strength, one evolutionist has suggested that these longstanding symbols of the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) should be allowed to die out...

Gambolling in a toy-filled pen, pandas born after the Chinese earthquake chase each other and turn somersaults, oblivious to how many of them are lucky to be alive. The mothers of the eight-month-old cubs were pregnant when the Sichuan earthquake shattered the mountainside reserve that had been home to China’s national symbols. They were traumatised when the ground shook and boulders as big as cars came down the slopes, killing four keepers and one of the pandas. The last six animals were moved out of the Wolong reserve last month to a home in a similar lush gorge. The base...

A TAIWANESE newspaper's April Fools' Day story that two giant pandas gifted by China were fakes backfired as politicians and zoo officials failed to see the funny side. The English daily Taipei Times ran a story on Wednesday's science section saying that the animals had been exposed as 'Wenzhou brown forest bears that had been dyed' to resemble pandas. It also quoted a fictional zookeeper as saying that she became suspicious when the bears 'began to spend almost all of their waking hours having sex,' as pandas are known for their low sex drive. 'Their behavior caused chaos. Children screamed...

Smithsonian National Zoological Park Washington, D.C. Short documentary featuring Pandas, primates and more. Thanks for watching.

There is a 15ft anthropomorphic panda in painted concrete by the media village here opposite the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing. There was a cuddly panda in the goody bag. On my desk here as I write, there is a drawing of a cute panda with a lot of children holding flowers. One world, one sickbag. But I'll tell you something to make you cast cynicism aside: there are still some real pandas left. There are actually more than there were 20 years ago: an 1988 census counted 1,110 pandas left in the wild, but in 2004 there were 1,590....

ASUSTEK wants to release an eco-friendly laptop made out of bamboo. The Asus Eco Book has a case made out of laminated bamboo strips. Since there is a lot of bamboo in the world and it grows fast it makes it an ideal renewable resource for making PCs out of, thinks Asustek. The processing does mean a few toxins get into the mix, but generally bamboo makes for an eco-friendly alternative. An early version has been shown to hacks at Reuters and engineers are checking to see if the bamboo can take the heat. Asustek has made a leather computer...

AP) Nothing says "I love you" like a photo frame made from panda poop. The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base has come up with a dung-for-profit scheme that turns droppings from the endangered species into odor-free souvenirs ranging from bookmarks to Olympic-themed statues of the animals, state media and base officials said Monday. The facility in the southwestern province of Sichuan houses about 40 bamboo-fed pandas who produce less than a ton of excrement a day. "We used to spend at least 6,000 yuan ($770) a month to get rid of the droppings but now they can be lucrative," Jing...

Pandas Shown Porn to Stimulate Sex for Reproduction Monday, April 30 2007 Contributed by: Mills After Thailand's most popular animal couple failed to mate, zoo officials are gearing up for plan B -- a DVD they hope will get Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui in the mood for love, CNN's Narunart Prapanya reported. The pandas' first mating season -- a three-day window -- came last week. Despite a widely-publicized encounter between Chuang Chuang, a 6-year-old male, and 5-year-old Lin Hui, the mating apparently was unsuccessful. Zoo administrator Prasertsak Puttrakul, who leads a team taking care of the pandas, noted they...

A roomful of baby panda bears At first look, you think they’re stuffed. I mean, how often do you see 16 live baby pandas together? Here’s your chance … The Sichuan Wolong Panda Protection and Breeding Center in southwest China has had a breeding boom. Sixteen pandas – including five sets of twins – have been born since July, 2006. The cubs are weighed and measured every five days. The heaviest cubs weighs a bit over 24 pounds, while the lightest weighs about 11 pounds. The pandas are due to stop suckling this month. Around that same time, the cubs...

Thai zookeepers are hoping a low-carb diet will get an overweight panda in the mood to mate. Chuang Chuang, a 330- pound panda, is too heavy to have sex with 253- pound Lin Hui, caretakers said. So they created a special diet for Chuang Chuang - replacing loaves of bread with low-fat bamboo branches. Zookeepers had planned to show the pair "panda porn" - instructional videos on mating techniques - but dropped that idea after research proved that not all pandas respond to the images.

XI'AN Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Seven panda "villages" of 10 to 20 pandas each have been found in northwest China's Qinling mountains, said experts. "These panda recluses live in stone cave communities in the mountain," said Yong Yange, director of the research institute of Foping National Nature Reserve at the foot of the Qinling mountains in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The panda breeding caves look just like a village. The black and white villagers can tell to which community a panda belongs by smelling their excrement, Yong said. Social life occurs within the community and the pandas seldom seek contact...

Thai zoo to use videos to teach panda to mate Nov. 11, 2006. 07:34 AM REUTERS BANGKOK ? A Thai zoo, which has hosted a couple of pandas for four years, will play "porn" videos for the male next month to encourage them to breed in captivity, the project manager said on Saturday. The pair ? living chastely together at the zoo in the northern city of Chiang Mai since arriving from China in 2003 ? would be separated in December, but stay close enough for occasional glimpses of each other, said panda project chief Prasertsak Buntrakoonpoontawee. "They don't know...

Sex in the Spotlight Beijing: A joint US/Chinese project will use satellite technology-including high-resolution cameras, and GPS tracking-to monitor the sex lives of a group of giant pandas in a wilderness preserve. There are only about 1600 of the animals left in the wild – plus an estimated 150 in captivity – and scientists want to learn the reason for the pandas’ rather low reproduction rate. (Hmm… If we had scientists following us around all the time, I wonder how well we would reproduce ?) The giant pandas might be a bit stand-offish, but a German trio was quite the...

The National Zoo's giant panda cub still doesn't have a name, but at least caretakers now know its sex. Not that the zoo had a preference. "We're excited to have a healthy panda cub," assistant curator Lisa Stevens said Tuesday. "It doesn't matter what its sex is - just it's good to know so we know whether to call it a 'he' or a 'she.'" Make that "he." Stevens said the panda's mother, 6-year-old Mei Xiang, doesn't care about the sex of her three-and-a-half-week-old cub either, only the tenth giant panda in the country. Giant panda mothers dote on their...

Nature preserve workers in northwest China's Gansu Province have formulated a rescue plan to save giant pandas from food shortage caused by arrow bamboo flowering. Zhang Kerong, director of the Baishuijiang State Nature Preserve, said that the preserve will intervene and help giant pandas find new food source. Zhang said that at the end of a life of arrow bamboo, a favorite of giant pandas, the plant will flower, seed and die. The giant pandas will not eat the bamboo after it blooms and it takes 10 years for a new supply to grow. The bamboo blooming in the early...

Bamboo leaves pandas hungry Fussy animals won't eat the plant while it blossoms BEIJING - A shortage of the staple food of China's giant panda will leave 19 of the rare animals scrounging to keep hunger at bay for as long as a decade in a reserve in the mountainous southwest, Xinhua news agency said Thursday. Pandas are unable to eat arrow bamboo when the plant flowers, meaning the animals will have little to eat in the area for the next 10 years, the minimum period for the plant to become edible again. "The blossoming area now accounts for 20...