geoff: Today marks 50 years
since giant pandas first came to
the smithsonian's national zoo
in Washington.
The historic program with China
has fostered a collaboration
between scientists and led to a
conservation success story for
the once endangered species.
I recently got an up close look
at these popular and precious
animals.
Panda caretaker Laurie Thompson
led us through the bamboo shed.
So this is where you store the
bamboo before you give it to
them?
And then around the corner to a
holding area where the pandas
wait before being allowed into
their outside yards.
Laurie: So this is tian tian.
Geoff: Hi tian tian.
We were helping Thompson set up
tian tian's panda yard, leaving
him an afternoon snack.
Laurie: It's a special treat he
gets.
Generally they get something
every day.
Geoff: Thompson picked the
perfect spot, dropping off the
treat where zoo visitors would
get the best view.
So this is just a regular
popsicle or is there something
special in here?
Laurie: So this is apple juice.
Mixed with some water.
Geoff: Thompson has been working
with pandas here for 28 years --
more than half the time pandas
have been at the zoo.
Laurie: Tian tian is my
favorite.
Geoff: Really, why?
Laurie: He's just a cool guy,
he's laid back, nothing fazes
him, he lets you know when he's
hungry, when he wants something.
Very straightforward.
Geoff: Giant pandas first came
to the national zoo fifty years
ago, welcomed by then-first lady
Patricia Nixon as part of a
goodwill gesture by the Chinese
government after her husband's
historic state visit to China in
early 1972.
>> Here at the national zoo,
they will be enjoyed by the
millions of people who come from
across the country to visit the
nation's capitol each year.
I notice Dr. Ripley is wearing a
panda tie, and I have on my
panda pin.
I think panda-monium is going to
break out at the zoo.
[Laughter]
Geoff: And it did.
Ling ling and Tsing Tsing
sparked an American love affair
with a giant pandas, and decades
of scientific collaboration with
China that continues to this
day.
China loaned the second pair of
pandas in 2000, and over the
years, they have had four cubs
that survived, captivating
crowds with their adorable
antics.
Brandie Smith is the director of
smithsonian's national zoo and
was once herself a giant panda
curator.
Brandie: Looking at the
reactions, they are so excited
just to catch a glimpse of a
panda.
Geoff: I imagine it's quite the
draw.
They are still a rare animal
despite moving off the
endangered species list in 2016.
Worldwide their numbers rose
from 100 under human care in
1980 to more than 600 in 2020.
Brandie: To save an endangered
species, you have to make more
of them.
So you really need to understand
reproduction.
And that was one of the biggest
mysteries with giant pandas
because they're only
reproductively viable for a few
days a year.
We spent a lot of time trying to
understand, study and crack the
code on giant panda
reproduction.
Our scientists our
conservationists are the reason
why we're able to successfully
produce so many panda cubs.
Geoff: And their numbers in the
wild have grown, too.
There are now an estimated 1,864
pandas in China.
>> Moving from endangered
species to a vulnerable species,
I think it's it's a real
conservation success story.
Geoff: Mel Songer is a
conservation biologist who
tracks how humans transform
landscapes and assesses how that
affects endangered species and
their habitats.
Mel: Because of policies in
China and the government's
actions to protect new areas,
most of the loss of habitat has
been stopped.
They've had a ban on logging and
they've they've stopped
agriculture going to higher
levels where it would come in
contact with the pandas.
Geoff: The Chinese government
has set aside 67 habitat sites
for giant pandas, something
Songer has worked on with her
Chinese colleagues for the past
20 years.
But the giant panda isn't out of
the woods yet.
Mel: In terms of the next sort
of threat that we see coming is
going to be due to climate
change.
But what happens if climate
change causes their habitats to
shift?
Shift to the north, shift up in
elevation?
Will there be potential to move
if there are new areas becoming
suitable that are not protected?
Where are the opportunities to
protect those areas so that they
will be able to shift?
Geoff: Giant pandas are an
umbrella species, which means
the 4000 species that live in
China's new giant panda national
park also benefit.
Songer and her Chinese
counterparts catch many of them
on camera traps.
An elaborate camera setup in
Washington lets anybody in the
world see how the pandas spend
their days.
During the pandemic, millions
streamed the panda cam.
There was even a new addition.
Xiao qi ji, or "Little miracle",
was born when much of the world
was under lockdown.
His mother was artificially
inseminated at the age of 22,
the oldest giant panda to give
birth in the U.S.
25 million page views and
counting, the world looked on to
watch him go up.
Why do pandas have such wide
appeal?
Brandie: We're actually
genetically programmed to love
giant pandas.
Geoff: Really?
Brandie: Yes.
So we like things that look like
babies.
You know, it's we need to care
for a baby so that our species
survives.
So the round faces, big eyes,
the cute little noses.
And when you look at giant
pandas, those are the features
that they have.
Mel: We get inspired by pandas
and you can see what's possible
when you have that inspiration
and you get the expertise, you
get the backing, the financial
and just the political will.
It just shows you what's
possible.
Geoff: Tian tian is due to
return home to China, as all the
pandas eventually do, next year.
But the national zoo hopes to be
serving fruit popsicles and
bamboo to pandas for many years
to come.