| The zoo keeper came over to tell me that the Olympic pandas 奥运会大猫熊 (àoyùnhuì dàxióngmāo) were about to be fed, so I went inside and upstairs to the new habitat area. Eight giant pandas were brought from Sichuan to entertain the visitors during the Olympic Games in 2008. They were there for several months before and stayed for about six months following the Olympics. They have a glassed-in outside habitat. The glass is tinted green. Since the pandas are guest, their environment can be adjusted to protect them from the hot Beijing weather. Even though guests will stay for months at a time, the zoo will try to minimize the adaptation the pandas have to make to a new environment. The plan is to have different pandas visit for special occasions. A new group of pandas were brought from Sichuan for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic. |
