Precious black and white screencaps

Posted on 25 April 2011 @ 09:37 in Stress Busters

Fans of American-born giant panda Tai Shan were thrilled to discover there’s now a daily webcam showing him in Bifengxia Panda Base, China. At first, there was some confusion as many people thought this is the webcam that Pandas International has been trying to set up for a while now (with funds donated by Mara Strock). Pandas International has now confirmed that this is a different webcam from the one they’re setting up; no matter, the more Tai Shan webcams, the better!

Unfortunately, the webcam is not very stable. Many fans have reported not being able to get the cam to work, despite following instructions to upgrade to the latest version of the Java plug-in. Fortunately, their daily Tai Shan “fix” has been provided by other fans who have been able to view the cam and have done screen captures to share online.

But this is not a blog post about the Tai Shan screencaps, but another set of screencaps.

A recent Tai Shan screencap showed a keeper I’d met in Wolong in 2007. I had not see him again until my March 2010 trip to Bifengxia; in the aftermath of the May 12 earthquake in 2008, he had remained in Wolong as a part of a small group of keepers to look after seven cubs born in 2007. The reason for keeping the cubs in Wolong was to encourage those who were still in Wolong after the earthquake (more on this later).

Seeing this keeper in the screencap reminded me of all the Wolong earthquake images that we’ve become so familiar with. However, there are some Wolong earthquake images that we might not have seen before.

During my September 2010 trip, I’d purchased a DVD on Wolong’s earthquake story released by the China Conservation and Research Centre for Giant Panda (CCRCGP), the Government admin department that oversees both Wolong and Bifengxia. In addition to the familiar earthquake images, the DVD also has a section on the seven cubs that had remained in Wolong, and their keepers. I realised I’ve never seen any pictures from this part of Wolong’s earthquake story. Other giant panda fans may not have, either, so I spent some time doing my own screencaps to share online.


Temporary housing for the 7 pandas that remained in Wolong for a year after the earthquake


Born in the same year and “classmates” in the Wolong kindergarten, they got along fine in their temporary home


A heartwarming screencap that showed them at a favourite activity – eating ‘boo!


The temporary panda home was open to the public


An “earthquake” cub coming up to say hello to two young visitors


Info board showing the weight of the 7 pandas; the top row shows the dates of their weigh-ins


The keepers bringing the cubs indoors

This section of the DVD has this to say about the seven cubs:

6km away from the ruins of the Wolong Panda Research Center, we come to the temporary shelter for the 7 pandas that remain. The pandas that remain were all born in the same year and grew up together. Despite suffering different degrees of shock, with tender love and attention from the caretakers, they are all in good health.

The Road Home
CCRCGP DVD on Wolong’s earthquake story


Yang Haidi, the keeper I saw in the Tai Shan screencap and who I’d met in Wolong in 2007, is also interviewed in this section of the DVD

The local people all care deeply about the pandas and people from all over the world also come to see them and are especially kind to them. After the quake, it wasn’t just us taking care of them but they also gave back to us a kind of inner strength. The fact that they are surviving so well is a great encouragement for us. Because the pandas haven’t gone, our hope is still here, all of Wolong’s hope is still here. After the relief effort comes the rebuilding process and we have every confidence in ourselves.

Yang Haidi
Giant panda keeper

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Still Walking

Posted on 11 April 2011 @ 06:23 in Health

Last week, I managed four morning walks. This is a big deal to me. Mostly, I manage two, sometimes only one, a week, or even none at all, often because of some health issue. In fact, there were two mornings last week when I thought I wouldn’t be able to go walking, but my body told me it was up to it so I went.

I’m also learning to wear my pedometer (an Omron HJ-113) when I go out, even when it’s not for a morning walk. I’ve discovered that I’m actually quite a fast walker and often achieve aerobic steps when I think I’m walking “normally”. Take yesterday evening. I’d gone to the nearby 7-Eleven to get a loaf of bread. When I couldn’t find what I wanted there, I went to two other shops in the same block, and eventually crossed the road to Jaya Grocer where I found a loaf with a 5-day expiry date. When I got home, and looked at the HJ-113, I saw that I’d achieved a 11-minute aerobic walk with 1,122 steps (that’s 102 steps per minute, almost double the minimum required over 10 minutes of continuous walking to activate the aerobic step counter). So that gives me motivation to wear the HJ-113 like a piece of clothing from now on.

I also log my walking progress on two sites – dailymile and Walker Tracker. I log my aerobic steps on the first site, and regular steps on the second. Believe me, it’s great motivation to see actual numbers online.

For this week, I aim to repeat last week’s walk schedule.

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