It’ll be panda-monium! Five hundred plush panda bears and 9 huge origami paper pandas have invaded the atrium of Aberdeen Centre in Richmond!
I normally don’t head out to Richmond, but I do love me some pandas. And if I can fly halfway around the world to Chengdu to hug pandas, I can make the trek out here to catch Pandaland, complete with a faux panda habitat.
Some fun Panadaland facts:
- The average lifespan of a panda is 14-20 years in the wild and 30 years in captivity.
- They live alone for most of their lives, except the one month during breeding season.
- Female pandas are fertile only 2 or 3 days a year.
- Newborn pandas are about 1/900th the size of their mothers, or the size of a stick of butter. They can reach up to 330 pounds as adults.
- Baby pandas stay with its mother for 18-30 months.
- Female pandas become mature at about 5 years of age, while males pandas become adults at 7 years of age.
- Giant pandas can eat 40 types of bamboo, but have a preference for only 2-6 species.
- Pandas rely on its sense of smell to identify the quality of bamboo.
- Pandas can peel and eat a bamboo stick in 40 seconds.
- Panda’s throat has a special lining of mucus to protect it from bamboo splinters.
- Pandas eat bamboo largely because they have no umami taste receptors. Meat tastes bland to them.
- Pandas are omnivorous. They eat bamboo, as well as, small animals and fishes. However, bamboo makes up 99% of their diet.
- Pandas can’t go 5-6 hours without eating. Much of their time is spent eating, so they only sleep for 2-4 hours at a time.
- Pandas consume up to 20 kilograms or 44 pounds of bamboo a day.
Pandaland is also holding an Instagram contest, which involves looking for that one lone red panda stuffy and uploading a photo of it to Instagram with #aberdeencentrepandaland.
After the exhibit, the 500 panda plushies will be donated to Richmond Christmas Fund, raising funds to benefit families in need during the holiday season.
Pandaland exhibit goes until September 3.
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