The Last Refuge: One Woman's Glimpse of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Page #3

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together in the open

Touched by her devotion

they call the mother Jiao-Jiao

or "Double Charming"

In Pan's study area

only one farm has persevered in the

harsh altitudes of panda territory

En route back

the two scientists visit the Li family

who count themselves

protectors of the pandas

Pan has heard reports that a panda

has been sighted in the vicinity

It behaved as though ill

Have the Lis seen it?

They have,

by the river

and were surprised to encounter

one so far down the mountain

In a chill are rain at

one in the morning

Professor Pan and his team are

summoned on a special mission...

Villagers have sent word that a wild

panda has appeared on a doorstep

Pan thinks it may be

the animal seen by the Lis

The scientists are puzzled

by a tendency of

wild pandas to come to human dwellings when ill...

an enigma in a creature

normally so withdrawn

Though they are neighbors

of wild pandas

few in the village have

ever seen one

Beneath corn [Zea mays] dried

for hog [Suidae (family)] feed

the creature huddles

as if seeking help

The animal appears old

Pan asks if the panda

has been fed

It has not

The man discovered it whimpering...

...and he was amazed

Suspecting a digestive problem

Pan decides to treat the

panda back at camp

It proves no easy task to relocate

the 200-pound creature

At Shashuping research station

therapy begins with

a breakfast of bamboo

Weighing the old panda's good

fortune at being rescued

the students call him

by a name that means "Lucky"

Already, his appetite is returning...

Antibiotics and vitamins mixed in honey

meal quickly revive Lucky's spirit

In ancient texts

a creature believed to be the panda was

known as "the iron-eating beast"

...because it chewed up

metal cooking utensils

...and it still tries to

Lucky, it turns out, has

an unruly curiosity

and an indiscriminate palate

Eventually

the cautious researchers manage

to retrieve this unusual delicacy

In Shashuping's field lab

Lu Zhi adds samples

of Lucky's blood to a

growing collection from

pandas living in isolated groups

Through genetic analysis

she seeks to learn how much

inbreeding has occurred

In a hundred years, she fears all

Qin Ling pandas could

be first cousins

This could cause extinction through

harmful mutations and

vulnerability to disease

"There is a critical question:

if this animal is inbreeding

then how much and

how bad the inbreeding could be

This work, we hope

will answer this question

and then we'll find

a way to help pandas"

Recovered after

a week of treatment

Lucky is ready

to be released...

Pan is hopeful

but the scientists know Lucky

may be too old to

survive in the wild

Weeks later

their fears will be confirmed

Again ill

Lucky will be taken

to a feeding center

where he will die

In the bitter cold

of early January

while other Qin Ling animals

hibernate the panda cannot

Enslaved by the need to

eat almost perpetually

pandas continue to

roam the frozen forest

Pan and Lu Zhi have learned to respect

the panda's tough constitution

Thick, oily fur and bulky

bodies insulate them

and they seem immune

to the cold

For Xi Wang, snow is just

a new terrain to explore

Now a five-month-old toddler

she seems dimly aware

that trees are important

In the months to come

they will offer her only safety from

predators in her mother's absence

But to hide in a tree

Xi Wang must

first learn to climb it

For now, baffled by the challenge

she gives up

For those who would study pandas

winter in the Qin Ling

mountains is a test of resolve...

The cold is relentless...

even inside

Days and nights pass

in the shared chores of

a dwelling heated only by wood fire

lit only by candle and lantern

As winter drags on

Jiao-Jiao begins to take Xi Wang

with her while foraging

The ancient Chinese

may have found

in such scenes of tranquility

a symbol of peace

According to one account

retiring armies waved not a

white flag but an image of a panda

For Xi Wang

another attempt to climb

Success brings not only safety

but a measure of youthful adventure

As winter gives way to spring

the panda's realm

in the Qin Ling mountains

reawakens with sound and color

By may

the new foliage intrigues Xi Wang

At nine months

she continues to nurse

but

like human babies

she investigates

the world with her mouth

For Jiao-Jiao

spring brings not only the

bamboo shoots she treasures

but the seasonal agony of ticks

[Metastigmata (suborder)]

and leeches [Hirudinea (class)]

Xi Wang will watch her mother from

the trees another four months

until she's ready to join her

foraging along the forest floor

Once tentative,

she now climbs about freely

sometimes showing greater

daring than judgment

Jiao-Jiao seems concerned

about a well-padded youngster

especially when succulent

bamboo shoots are abundant

For both, life is serene

They look awkward

but pandas are deceptively agile

their joints so flexible

they can bite their own tails

and perform gymnastic routines

in suspenseful slow motion

Clear-cut harvesting

of the panda's forests

is the paramount threat

to their continued existence

Food and cover dwindle

Populations are further isolated

Panda ranges have

declined by half in

only two decades...

primarily from logging

A billion people in China need

wood for homes and heat

In fifty years

it could be almost two billion

Over the years

Professor Pan has

watched timber companies

invade 70 percent

of Qin Ling's panda habitat

He asks how far the

loggers intend to go

Next spring, they will cut

all the way over the mountains

the slopes now roamed

by Jiao-Jiao and Xi Wang

To penetrate the panda's forest

new roads must be blasted

out of the mountainside

By most standards

the operations are crude

sometimes conducted

with a casual daring

that mixes gun powder with cigarettes

Industrial safety is a recent

development here

but despite accidents

the work goes on relentlessly

Risking all

Pan has pleaded with authorities

to stop the logging of Qin Ling

With stubborn insistence

despite threats and harassment

he has succeeded

The government has halted the timber

cutting in the

An excursion to check

on Xi Wang

now outfitted with a radio collar...

It is mid-October

At fourteen months

Xi Wang is passing

her second autumn

Something is amiss

The signals lead to

a tangled clump of brush

Expecting Xi Wang

they find only her collar

Pan believes Jiao-Jiao tore the

collar from her youngster

He suggests they search

for Jiao-Jiao instead

But Jiao-Jiao's signal is weak...

...They will have to separate

and scour the slopes

Xi Wang is invaluable to science

She has been monitored since birth

and has provided

unprecedented information

But for Pan and his crew

this panda has also become a friend

Following his instincts

Pan comes to a steep ravine...

Barely visible among the foliage

sitting casually in a tree

the familiar shape of Xi Wang

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