Okay, so Panda Makers doesn’t sound as cool as Monkey-Eating Eagle but at least it lives up to its name. And if you like pandas, there’s plenty of OMG-I’m-dying-from-cuteness! in this episode of Natural World.
Because of the endagerment of giant pandas, folks in a city in China started a breeding program consisting of raising 300 pandas in captivity and then releasing them into the wild in the hopes of increasing the population. This, of course, is controversial because, as David Attenborough (YES!!!!) explains, many captivity breeding programs around the world have failed and some people are arguing that all the money and time being spent on the pandas could be used to protect or save a different species. However, consider the alternative: doing nothing and letting the panda population slowly become overwhelmed by humans. It’s worth a try, right?
The footage, as usual, is fantastic. We get right up close to lots of pandas in the captivity as well as some in the wild. There’s a tense scene with a female in a cage who is ready to mate but she, along with the male she is set up with, don’t seem to be able to get the hang of it and start to get frustrated, leading to some aggression. At one point, there’s also footage of a live panda birth, which frankly surprised me as the baby panda suddenly popped out, slippery and squealing. I didn’t know baby pandas slipped out so easily like that!
What I like best about this episode is, like Planet Earth, there is a gentle nudge of conservation and environmentalism — much more prevalent for obvious reasons in this episode. Coupled with cute images of panda cubs, it’s impossible not to feel for the furry little creatures (and if you don’t, then hooray, you’ve successfully become an android!).
And last but not least, watching this reminded me of one of my sister’s cats named Panda, named so because of the two black circles around her eyes. Panda panda!!!! I miss that cat.
Panda cubs with workers at the centre
aaron's random musings 
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