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Ueno Zoo Will Get New Pandas (And Pay China Millions)

Ueno Zoo will finally get some Pandas again:

The Associated Press has uncritically parroted Chinese state media reports about this being a “diplomatic” move to build friendship between Japan and China. The AFP (and the Japanese media) have noted in their articles that it is more of a business deal. The Japanese will have to pay Chinese government about a million dollars a year for the privileged of caring for the Pandas. If any baby pandas are born, the Chinese government will retain ownership of them, although Ueno Zoo will be allowed to keep the baby pandas for 2 years. As Giant Pandas are a favorite of zoo visitors, the deal has a good chance of helping Ueno Zoo improve its business situation.

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18 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - July 29, 2010 at 9:52 am

Categories: General Japan Tags:

shitano zoo

Don’t send panda to Ueno Zoo.
The zoo had killed many pandas already. Tokyo have been consuming pandas.
Send panda to Adventure World in Wakayama. They had succeeded in propagation.

LB

Yes, because when those Pandas at Ueno reached 20-25 years of age and died, it was clearly because Ueno “killed” them, and had nothing to do with the fact that Pandas typically die at about 25 years of age. And when the cubs born at Ueno died, that too was clearly because Ueno “killed” them, and had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Pandas typically have a high rate of infant mortality.

Sheesh..

shitano zoo

“those Pandas at Ueno reached 20-25 years of age and died”

It’s not exact.
1. Kang Kang was born in 1970. He came to Japan in 1972. He died in 1980.
2. Lan Lan was born in 1968. She came to Japan in 1972. She died in 1979.
3. Fei Fei was born in 1967. He came to Japan in 1982. He died in 1994.
4. Huan Huan was born in 1980. She came to Ueno in 1980. She died in 1997.
Huan Huan gave birth to three babies: But Chu Chu had died 2 days after. Tong Tong had died 4 years after. You You had died 6 years after.

This is mass slaughter. Panda will become extinct by Ueno Zoo.

LB

And Rongbin at Adventureworld died at under 5 years of age, Meimei was 14. So as of now, on average, Adventureworld pandas have a shorter life-span than Ueno pandas.

shitano zoo

The purpose to keep animal in zoo is not show, but is propagation.

Don’t you know? MeiMei had given birth to five sons and two daughters? Unfortunately four sons had died in China (They were carried to China for breeding). Ming Bin is still alive in AW.
And her daughter Liang Bin gave birth to a son and a daughter. Propagation as the purpose has succeeded. I expect that Ming Bin and Liang Bin will give birth to many babies.
And don’t you know Yong Ming, seven pandas’ father (Mei Mei’s husband), is still alive in AW? He is 18 years old now.

While this situation, Ueno’s panda had become extinct soon, in SOME TIMES.

LB

If propagation is the goal, you use breeding facilities or wildlife preserves, like China does, not zoos. Zoos only become important to propagation when there are not enough animals left outside of zoos to breed and keep a species alive while allowing for some new examples to be taken to put into new zoos or replace those that died in zoos. This is not, yet, the case with the Panda.

Anyway, the harsh truth is that Pandas would be headed for extinction anyway were it not for human intervention. This is an animal that is physically capable of being omnivorous, but is addicted to one type of bamboo to the point that they will starve if that bamboo disappears – even if there is plenty of other food available. In nature, they only eat other things to supplement the bamboo, not replace it. They are reproductively fertile only for an extremely short period each year, which means they have to find a mate right away (not easy for a solitary animal) within that small window. Often they don’t even make the effort – they are singularly uninterested in breeding, with females in heat often driving away males (usually the female welcomes males when she is in heat) and refusing to mate. If mating occurs, the successful impregnation rate is horribly low. If the female even manages to get pregnant, Pandas have a very high miscarriage rate. And even if by some minor miracle pups are born (Pandas almost always have twins), the mother will only care for one, if she bothers to care for the pups at all! Pandas are horrible mothers, leading to very high infant mortality rates.

As one zoologist I met put it, Pandas are an evolutionary dead-end. The fossil record is full of animals like Pandas, and for good reason. The thing is, they are “cute” and so people think they have to be “saved”. Nature is generally not so forgiving.
flowby

Good Points LB.

So the Pandas-in-zoos-programs should be abandoned and the “business” of using animals on display to create wealth should be discouraged.

Instead spend the millions on their sustainability in the wild.
LB

Well Flowby except….

You do know what China is doing with the millions brought in by Panda rentals, right? That money goes back into their panda sanctuary. Keeping the pandas in zoos and out in the public eye raises the species’ profile and, to some extent, serves as a PR vehicle to get people to donate to the sanctuaries or other wildlife preservation efforts. So it is difficult to make a clear-cut case for keeping pandas out of zoos – the zoo displays are one piece in the whole “keep pandas alive and breeding” puzzle, and a pretty important piece at that, financially.

Vonskippy

“the deal has a good chance of helping Ueno Zoo improve its business situation”

Assuming the panda’s are shown 5 days a week…

$1,000,000 / (5days x 52weeks) = $3,846/day

Add in the actual cost of keeping the Panda’s (food, staff, space, medical, etc) and those are some pretty expensive animals.

Are Panda’s really that popular (i.e. will the zoo really get that many more paying customers to cover that expense)? And if so, why? They’re just Panda’s.

edoh

Some folks go to zoo’s just to see pandas because it is china’s national treasure, whether if it’s enough to cover the cost is another question.
Vonskippy

Just looked up the Ueno Zoo web page.

The highest admission fee is for adults at 600 yen.

So at that rate, the zoo would need to get 550 more adults PER DAY to break even JUST for the $1,000,000 they paid to China (and not including all the costs of keeping the animals healthy and safe).

$3846 per day / $7 (aprox 600 yen) = aprox 550

Somehow I don’t really think it was all that wise of a business decision.

What percent is 550 to their normal visitor count?

http://www.japanprobe.com James

Your calculation leaves out overpriced food/drink sales and the gift shop purchases that many visitors would make.

Last time I went to Ueno Zoo, all of their shops were still displaying lots of panda merchandise (stuffed pandas, panda post cards, etc) even though the zoo had no pandas at that time. Pandas are a major attraction, and I wouldn’t be surprised if having some would enough extra visitors to break even or even turn a profit.

LB

Indeed – USJ has long publicly stated that what they collect in admission fees is not enough to even come close to breaking even. They make their money on food, drink and gift sales. I believe Disneyland uses the same formula – as do most amusement facilities. Ueno is, definitely, an “amusement facilty”.

Jamesw

The National Zoo in the US had to pay at least two million for the pandas they were caring for. I wonder why it was a million dollars less for Ueno?

LB

If you ever tried to get a visa to enter China, you’d understand. The rate chart is a four-way graph of “What is your nationality”, “In which country are you applying for the visa”, “What kind of visa would you like” and “Which service level of processing your application do you desire”. I figure it is the same thing in reverse: “two pandas going to an American zoo in America: 2 million USD. Two pandas going to Japanese zoo in Japan: 1 million USD. Two pandas going to American-run zoo in Hokkaido (if such a thing existed) 1.5 million USD…..”

Luke

I remember seeing multiple signs in red saying ‘THERE IS NO GIANT PANDA IN UENO ZOO’ last time I went there. I thought that was funny.
zoglog

Pandas are useless and need to go extinct

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125773728

helical

Man, do you realize just how much people would PAY once some entrepreneur succeeds in genetically engineering and cloning miniature foot-long pandas as pets?!
They can go extinct for all I care, but not until we get a live genetic template for the what would make some geneticist as wealthy as the Gods themselves

Ueno Zoo Will Get New Pandas (And Pay China Millions)

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