Feb 02 2010
Panada Princess Mei Lan
ATLANTA’S panda princess Mei Lan is expected to start her new life in Chengdu City with a teacher tutoring her to respond to Chinese commands and making friends with a mate to help propagate one of the world’s most imperiled species.
Today most of the world’s giant pandas – there are only about 1,600 – live in the southwestern mountains of Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, which produced Mei Lan’s parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang, has launched a search to find a qualified volunteer as her Chinese teacher and a Website asking panda fans worldwide to choose a mate for her from dozens of candidates prior to her departure on Thursday from the United States.
Mei Lan, which means “American Orchid” or “Beautiful Orchid,” was born at Zoo Atlanta in Georgia on September 6, 2006 and given the name when she was about 100 days old.
With a childhood spent in the US, the Chinese language could confuse Mei Lan and that prompted the breeding base to begin a search for a keeper who spoke both Chinese and English.
A supply of her favorite US biscuits will help ease her transition to life in China but these will “gradually be replaced by steamed wotou, a Chinese bread made of corn flour,” said Huang Xiangming, director of the base’s animal management department.
That was my article above my summary of this story is:
On February, 4 Mei Lin (the panda princess) is traveling to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The reason is because they wanted to train her in Chinese commands and find a mate for her.
I started thinking, How would I feel if I was in a cage with a different appetite and this person just starts trying to train me? My connection is I went to the San Fransisco Zoo and I saw Giant Pandas.
3 responses so far
I would feel HORRIBLE if I were trapped in a cage. I can’t believe this happened…..
Hey Emma!! I’m not commenting for this article, but as you see, I’m doing the pros and cons for the govournment officials, and I’m turning it in on this Wednesday so you can have the whole holiday to organize it. What do you think?
Reading your article makes me wonder how she will feel about moving to China. At least they are going to feed her biscuits and use English around her to help ease her transition. How are the pandas transported to China?