Pandas in HD!

Caught a 'NAWESOME' special last night on Discovery HD (Cox Channel 710 in Alexandria) called Panda Nursery! It was the story of twin cubs born at Wolong and documents how human caregivers raise panda cubs.

When twin cubs are born in the wild, the mother panda almost always chooses one cub over the other. It may seem cruel, but it's a choice the mother panda makes out of necessity. A newborn baby panda cub is completely helpless and depends on its mother's round-the-clock care to have any chance at survival. A mother panda instinctively knows that to increase her odds of successfully raising a cub, she must devote herself to only one cub.

However, new research by Chinese and international scientists gave the conservationists of Wolong Research Center an innovative idea--to work around the mother's natural instincts by "tricking" her into raising both her cubs. This is accomplished by swapping out the twin cubs, allowing each twin to have quality time with the mother alone, while the other is nurtured and cared for in the "panda" nursery by its human caregivers.

Were they successful? Find out when Panda Nursery airs again on May 10. Only on Discovery HD!

OR catch it my house, where it will be playing every evening for the next dozen nights or so...yay for DVR!

"Panda Nursery" is certainly no "Tai Shan: A Pandodyssey", though there is some incredibly cute panda cub footage, a lot of information on conservation and panda reproduction, and the best part: at 24 minutes in, there is a hilarious sound bite of the theme to "2001: A Space Odyssey" in Chinese pan flute music.


Wanted: Better PR Rep for Tai Shan
Why does Su Lin get all the glory at Wikipedia? What is this, some new conspiracy?!