Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived in Washington in 2000 and their fourth cub, Xiao Qi Ji, was born in 2020. All three – giant pandas at The Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Washington DC – shall return to their ancestral home – China – before the end of 2023. The first foray of the giant pandas to the zoo and perhaps to the US was in 1972 when then First Lady Pat Nixon was gifted a pair by former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in exchange for a couple of arctic musk oxen.
That was when the ice-breaking trip of Nixon and his wife to China warmed the US-China ties. What later became known as China’s ‘Panda Diplomacy’ originated in this maiden exchange of animals as state gifts. Far from looking a gift panda in the mouth, the recipient nations/zoos had stringent guidelines to follow, mandated by the not-so-benevolent giver. They were not ‘gifts’ in the real sense from 1984 when Chinese wildlife organizations began ‘lending’ pandas to other countries in the interest of panda conservation. The lessee had to return the pandas at the end of the contract period. Extensions used to happen, but seldom of late. Though not stated explicitly, it is a public secret that China uses bamboo munchers as measuring devices for political affinity. So (currently) friendly nations get to keep them longer and where the relations have turned cold, the pretty animals’ guesthood turns short-lived.
It’s no secret that US-China ties are at a low ebb these days. So, after the return of the parents/offspring trio from Washington Zoo, America will be left with just 4 pandas in the Atlanta Zoo whose term is expiring in 2024. The ones in Memphis and San Diego Zoos have all been returned to China.
Well, a collection of pandas has an unusual name in ‘embarrassment’, for a reason. America, instead of having an embarrassment in that sense, will face the embarrassment of empty panda enclaves in all its Zoos by the end of next year unless a ‘Mandarin’ change of mind happens! Indeed, a prerequisite shall be an improvement in Sino-US relations – not on the horizon as such.
That panda recall is an offshoot of deterioration in China’s relationship with a particular country can be gauged from the list of countries at the receiving (!) end. Scotland (UK), Netherlands, Japan and Australia – all Western allies – have either seen the giants leaving their shores or will do so as soon as the existing contracts end. For the reverse reason, the 2 gifts adorning Moscow Zoo may get an indefinite extension given the ‘no limits’ friendship Russia shares with the southern neighbor.
The only exception of ‘self-return’ apparently was that of Canada when in 2020 they dispatched the two giant pandas three years ahead as the host Zoo could not procure enough bamboo to feed them! Canada seems to have trouble with the gifts, visitors or immigrants for that matter that they host on their welcoming landscape!
Other than politics, another practical consideration might be shaping China’s propensity to recall. Giant Pandas were an ‘endangered’ species, but they have been categorized under a better ‘vulnerable’ grade by the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 2016. Their global numbers are at more sustainable levels now. The then ‘endangered’ level of the animals was one of the reasons for China to collaborate with foreign zoos to promote conservation – no longer a necessity! While recalling the bamboo-loving pandas, Beijing appears to forget the Chinese proverb on gratitude “When eating bamboo sprouts, remember the man who planted them”.
Be that as it may, let’s move to another plump member of the Ursidae family that is making news this week. Fat Bear Week is an annual process culminating in the selection of the fattest/heaviest brown bear in the Katmai National Park in Alaska, America. To be sure, the Bruins are not at their fatty best year around. During summer, they lose weight akin to what happens in humans after dieting. As winter approaches, the ursids feast on salmon and gain fat/weight enough to traverse the winter. Winter is the time to hibernate with no food intake. Even the color of fur changes between the leaner summer and the eating binge of autumn.
The heaviest one is crowned every year following an online voting. Since its inception in 2014, the number of participants in this online polling has ballooned to over a million in 2022. Last year threw up the winner ‘747’, the name fashioned obviously on the wide-body Boeing aircraft – possibly the heaviest brown bear on earth at an estimated 635 kilos – rightly called by some a ‘Champion of Chomp’.
This year Fat Bear Week starts on October 4 and concludes on Fat Bear Tuesday, October 10. During the week, the contestants and their movement can be watched on cams kept at vantage points. Rangers create a tournament-style bracket pitting individual bears against each other. The public then votes to see who will advance each round. Voting takes place during the week on www.fatbearweek.org. People may vote using any criteria they see fit. In the end, the winning bear shall bear the figurative crown on its already heavy head.
Out there, there is someone getting votes and accolades for gaining weight and being portly! We may see this as a ‘travesty of justice’ when we humans toil in gyms and indulge in dieting to lose weight and to look svelte.
But the exercise helps in conservation efforts too. Also, the process of the bears munching on tonnes of salmon, catching them at source in the Brooks River is a sight to behold. The bigger ones consume up to 50 kgs of salmon daily during the period. Another fascinating point to note is the law of nature doing the balancing act for various species – some becoming prey to others and the cycle continues, allowing everyone to co-exist. Alaska is the venue of the biggest salmon runs. The timing is just right for the brown bears getting to ‘pad up’ body fat to face the fasting winter – just what the doctor, nature in this instance, ordered! So each one of them positions themselves ‘strategically’ and gobbles up the god-sent salmons rushing their way!
While we wait to see if China takes a second look at resurrecting panda diplomacy, one can look forward to an admiring gaze at the hefty brutes of Katmai and vote to crown the ultimate mammoth!
