Welcome Pandas!
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Tennessee's
Memphis Zoo got two special guests in April, 2003: a pair of giant
pandas from China. They are only the fourth pair of pandas to be on
exhibit in a U.S. zoo. Last Friday, visitors to the zoo got to see
Le Le (Luh Luh) and Ya Ya for the first time.
Giant pandas are endangered. There are fewer than 1,000
in the world! The Memphis Zoo will pay China $1 million a year to
keep the bears for 10 years.
China plans to use the money for panda research.
Scientists in Memphis will also study the bears. Researchers want to
understand why pandas eat mostly bamboo. The plant has little
nutritional value.
American researchers will work with officials in China
to restore the panda's habitat. Humans have destroyed large forests
where bamboo grows and the bears live.
The pandas' home in Memphis cost $16 million. It took
more than two years to build. The outdoor area has hot and cold
rocks. Ya Ya loves the rocks! "Ya Ya is a good climber," says
zookeeper Janet Cooper.
When the weather gets hot, the pandas can stay in an
air-conditioned indoor area. Its walls are painted to look like
China's mountains and forests.
The pandas will get more than 600 visitors each hour.
"People love pandas because they are cute," says Cooper. "We hope
kids will learn the importance of conservation and understand that
even animals that aren't cute need help too."
May 2, 2003 Vol. 8 No. 25 |
