While hanging around the Panda Base, you must have caught the keepers fishing the giant pandas. Many of us may consider it as training for show; however, it’s a special exercise in order to fasten their hind legs by “standing up”. Nevertheless, we have to say that it is indeed a point of interests and joys. For myself, I am also addicted to the panda-fishing so that here I’m gonna to share with you.

In the pictures below, this is the foodie Cheng Jiu, whom the keepers think is well-behaved, because he will immediately come up and follow the voice as soon as the keeper yells “Come here! Come here!”

Hearing the voice “Come here” of keepers, Cheng Jiu turned his head and prepared to come down from the trees.

—“Watch your manners, Cheng Jiu! You should move after you hear your name!”

—“Sorry, I just think that my name is Come Here, so I came here.”

Someone is positive towards food, surely someone is negative, such as, in these photos below, that panda stayed in the tree with his saliva flowing while the two under the tree had already been enjoying the food.

“I am a panda with principle. I would not change my position for one simple apple!”

Fishing The Seven Heroines, the seven pandas born in 2014, was the toughest task ever since there are always members missing from the team. “You are the worst students that I ever met!” supposed that one teacher might say. However each time before one of them was going to leave Chengdu, the Seven Heroines would gather together, just like an appointment or a good-bye party.

“Panda-fishing Game” on the day before Cheng Jiu and Shuang Hao leaving for Hangzhou
(among the Seven Heroines, Shuang Hao and Zhen Duo weren’t in the picture)

“Panda-fishing Game” on the day before Qi Qiao and Qi Xi leaving for Ordos

For the tourists the “panda-fishing game” is admirable, for pandas themselves it’s effective. Look at Gong Zai in the pictures below, who is the prototype of Po in the movie Kung Fu Panda, Gong Zai can move swiftly and lightly and for him it’s not hard to climb up and down the trees.

Gong Zai, “Here I go, with vim and vigor!”

Gong Zai climbs the tree in order to get the cake.

But sometimes, he’s unwilling to climb, then he will scheme. Knowing that the keeper is going to lure him up to the trees, Gong Zai pretends to ignore it and keeps eating bamboo shoots, just like “I’m good, bamboo’s enough for me.”, so that the keeper has to approach, then a contest of tricks begins. Gong Zai” pretends to eat bamboo but stares at the apple while the keeper holds the stick but observes his movement. Suddenly the panda launches, he stands up and tries to grip the apple but then the keeper raises the stick so the apple goes higher, consequently failing to catch the apple, Gong Zai sits down, watches and waits all over again. Finally he penetrates the keeper’s logic, gets the apple and breaks the stick successfully.

Pretending to eat quietly, watching the apple and preparing to burst.

It is said that Yong Yong is also a kung-fu master famous for his footwork but recently a few times I saw Uncle Yong disdaining to do the simple exercise, maybe due to his pride as a strong male panda.

Despite the keeper yelling, Yong Yong keeps eating arrogantly and ignores.

It makes the keepers helpless seeing the scene that Yong Yong sticks to his own position unswervingly watching his neighbor.

With persistence and patience I finally witnessed the moment that Yong Yong was fished. Yong Yong deserved the reputation of a master. Standing on ground or even walking on feet is nothing but a piece of cake for him.

The only thing Fu Fu would do was to reach out his neck for the apple in the past.

Finally Fu Fu determined to stand up after staring for a long time.

You may have noticed that we use apple and panda cake during the fishing. Although pandas like them both, there’s always a preference between. Perhaps due to the lineage, Cheng Jiu and Ying Ying, as the sons of the mother Cheng Ji, prefer the apples.

Cheng Jiu, the middle one, as a staff of “the Cheng’s Martial Art School”, ate his up and then began to glance right and left, finally decided to rob apple from Mao Zhu.

Cheng Jiu, “No friends in front of the apples!”

 
Cheng Jiu is biting the stick angrily because he failed to get the apple.

Ying Ying, with cake in his hand but is still looking forward to the apple.

Ying Ying the beauty, with much value about his appearance, is licking up his hands after meal.

Ying Ying is cleaning his hands.

So do the special postures of fishing surprise you? For many people during one day all the giant pandas are lazy enough and they do nothing but eating and sleeping. But if you observe with patience, you may find out that giant pandas have their own mood and emotion just like our human beings. Only if you think and feel with love and care, will you unearth something more interesting of giant pandas.