A Year with a Panda Family in China - Learning to Survive | SLICE WILD | FULL DOC - EP2

Considered a living fossil, the panda is today protected and present in over 60 reserves in China, the only country that maintains a wild population on its territory. The successful release of a dozen individuals, bred in captivity, has increased their total number. Tracked by satellite using radio collars, these pandas are now perfectly integrated into the wild population. Protected by the Qinling Mountains and the Daba Mountains, which encircle the cold northern currents, the panda has adapted to this environment by changing its diet and carnivorous habits to become a bamboo eater. But its former carnivorous stomach means it has to eat dozens of kilos of bamboo every day. Its survival depends exclusively on this plant and on its ability to do nothing. The panda is the king of idleness, a lazy monarch who has made indolence his ally in order to withstand the passing of time and planetary ages up until today. In this isolated and unspoiled vast territory, the seasons are very distinct. Each one is a stage in the development of young pandas and the different species of animals that live alongside them. The adventure of life has begun for our heroes, Tuan and Xu, the two young pandas born at the end of last summer. Even though these two families of pandas live in the same area, they will never meet because the adults avoid all contact with other pandas outside the breeding season. Mei, the mother of Tuan, the little male, is an experienced mother. She always knows how to bring her dissipated offspring back to his senses. He learns very quickly and has already grasped how to climb trees under his mother's watchful eye, who looks on admiringly yet uneasily, faced with her cub's feet. Bao is learning her role as a mother by educating Xu, her first bear cub. She sometimes hesitates when putting the little female cub on the right path, but her tenderness is never failing. Her arms are always outstretched towards her baby whenever there is danger or when it's time for a feed, interrupting her cub's fun and games. Autumn has arrived. Mei focuses on caring for her little male cub, Tuan. He is impatient. He would like to rollick around as free as a bird, but his mother won't have it. Her cub is still too weak and unstable. Whether she is eating bamboo or falling asleep, she holds her baby preciously close in a loving but tight hug. And dangers do exist. The clouded leopard is a predator with incredibly powerful jaws and long incisors, with a bite force of 544 newtons, surpassing the cheetah and the snow leopard, which are twice as big. The little panda has been forewarned. The autumn winds herald harsher weather and the young panda's resistance is put to the test. At the beginning of this transitional season, deeper in the bamboo grove, the mother lets the little female cub Xu down onto the ground when she takes a nap. This is a well-deserved rest for her because her constant attention takes up a lot of energy. The little cub is clumsy but is already looking for adventure. A vast world opens up to her. The most fun learning experience is climbing trees. The panda's six digits are a great help in gripping the trunk and thorny branches. They are called fingers, but they are in fact an extension of cartilage without finger bones. It is possible that during evolution, a genetic mutation led to the emergence of this sixth pseudothumb. This characteristic has helped it adapt to its new diet. Mama panda is leading by example. She holds the bamboo in place with her fingers or grips it with her fleshy pad. This characteristic, unique in the bear family, has been preserved and reproduced from generation to generation, up until today. But sometimes, climbing tall trees can be risky. The tall straight fir trees grow to over 30 meters. Xu and Tuan are not the only cubs in the great Sichuan forest. Not far away, suspended in midair, this other panda is in danger. The fall is fatal for this reckless young panda. He won't live to see his second birthday. Nature is merciless with intrepid novices. For now, Bao lets Xu climb up to her own height. The cub climbs up to the height of her mother's outstretched arms. Then Bao immediately pulls her out of the tree and hugs her tightly, reassured. It is in the panda's nature to climb higher and higher. Xu cannot help but climb every tree she encounters. She learns quickly, but Bao is on the lookout and makes sure to bring her back to her side. Bao encourages these climbs, which may seem insignificant, but they build up her cub's strength. Her long, hard, sharp claws can support more than twice her weight and, thanks to this daily training, climb to the top of the catalpa trees to dominate the valley. A few days walk away. Tuan, the little male cub, continues his learning process. Always eager to learn and to climb higher, he quickly exceeds the height of his mother. His goal? To swing on his first branch. But his mother, worried, holds out her arms to him. It's feeding time. She won't stop doing this gesture until he is weaned. Vulnerable in the first few months, the young panda needs to learn to climb higher and higher to escape from predators. He must choose trees with large trunks and thick branches to avoid any danger. This is why mothers teach their young to climb trees soon after they learn to walk. Tuan is intrepid and experiments with larger trees. He is stable on all four legs and confident. He climbs quickly and nimbly to dizzying heights. He seems proud to have reached the peak. Tuan communicates with his mother by crying out or grunting. He can also whine and croak to attract her attention. In fact, the giant panda does not roar like other bears, but rather bleats like a goat or honks with little shrill cries. Is a bear that only eats bamboo and doesn't roar really a bear? But this time, Tuan has forgotten to climb back down to feed. He has preferred to go discovering and gaze at the world below him than to go back to his mother for a feed. So Mei, whose nurturing mother instincts kick in, has no other choice but to climb up to feed him when feeding time calls. Despite weighing over 100 kilos, she quickly reaches Tuan. This is an exceptional moment because normally a female panda only nurses her cub comfortably on the ground. Mei's maternal instinct and experience have pushed her to do this unusual and extremely rare feed. Winter is approaching. Still frail and fragile, will Zhu and Tuan survive their first winter? Male or female, the dangers are the same. A gathering of golden rhinopithecus forecasts the rapidly approaching cold weather. A noisy and distracted colony of over 600 individuals invades the bamboo forest. Males and females can be distinguished by their cries. Males howl and the females cry out shrilly. As their little faces don't express the slightest movement, the din is even more surprising. Because of their large nasal cavities, these noseless monkeys communicate like ventriloquists, producing their range of sounds without opening their mouths. The forest floor is soon covered with snow. Food becomes scarce. In winter, animals have to Tuan and Zhu, our two young cubs, are facing their first winter. A long winter with extreme temperatures. Their survival is at stake. The harsh, freezing winter in these parts of China is ruthless for the weakest. Food is scarce. Animals have to cover long, exhausting distances to find food. And the snow complicates their nomadic search of pastures buried under the frozen land. The little female cub Zhu seems lost in this new environment. She follows and bows footsteps, not leaving her side. She discovers this new white world with apprehension, but very quickly realizes how fun slipping and sliding can be. Little Zhu is still clumsy and bow watches over her at all times. She continuously rubs her to warm her up and always ends up taking her in her arms for a vital feed when it is very cold. This is also the best way to keep her warm. In the Sichuan forest, the temperature drops way below freezing, down to minus 15 degrees Celsius. In the high forests of the giant panda's vast territory, Tuan's adventurous spirit leads him to brave the tall trees and venture onto branches over 20 meters high. In the wind and rain, the snow and cold, he faces the difficult weather conditions. Now moving like an acrobat, the little black and white ball of fur can even take a nap up there, snuggling between two branches. Mei is now reassured, satisfied with her offspring's gymnastic skills. But when the little male cub climbs back down, she still has the reflex of eagerly hugging him under the tree, as if he has come back home after a long absence. Down in the valley, in the cold winds, the ibises search for small mollusks under the frozen marshes or fish under the ice. Unlike their cousins, the herons and other wading birds, ibises do not migrate and face the winter on their territory. Takens are protected from the northern winds, wrapped in their thick fleeces of golden wool that is lubricated by an oil that their skin secretes. Their fleece is waterproof and can withstand very low temperatures. This, however, doesn't stop the caprinus from descending into the more hospitable lower valleys in winter. Even though the towering pine trees or bamboo provide shelter, the rhinopithecus are not very happy in winter. Even if they can survive these icy winters, unlike most other primates, they hate snow, even though they are protected by their thick fur. So they pass the time the best they can, by nibbling the lichens spared by the frost. Nighttime can be unpredictable. Food is scarce and predators are ready to pounce on easy prey. Life is fragile in these Himalayan foothills. May watches over Tuan, but he is bold, often escaping her watchful eye. He isn't yet safe from predators like the invisible snow leopard, a prehistoric fresco. On the summits of the Sichuan mountains, a single file of yaks seem to pose for a cave painting, survivors of a bygone era. They are looking for the first pastures emerging from the thawing snow. It's springtime. The layer of ice melts to reveal marshes. The ibis can finally feast on crabs, frogs, and emerging snails, their favorite dishes. The Japanese ibis is one of the rarest ibises in the world. A few years ago, it was close to extinction. The panda's territory is its last refuge, where it prefers the marshes of the lowlands to the dense forests of the highlands. The large bamboo forest is home to another panda, the red panda, very active in these first days of spring. However, it is only a panda in name. This stems from a scientific error when it was discovered and hastily classified in the panda family. In fact, it has nothing in common with our giant panda. It is not even a distant relative, as it belongs to the weasel or stone marten family. The only thing they have in common is their love of bamboo, especially the young shoots which are easy to digest. The red panda also has a sixth digit due to its evolution similar to that of the giant panda. But scientists have sequenced their genes and found that they are not related, even though they have developed a similar sixth finger. In springtime, pandas love to roll around in water. They splash around and quench their thirst. Yet, Tuan doesn't seem to like these water games. May insists. By wading in the water, she washes herself and rids her fur of parasites, and Tuan must learn that, whether he likes it or not. A good education is the key to the cub's survival. Exhausted by all his rolling around, Tuan falls asleep, like a log. He is growing fast. Each month, he puts on more than five kilograms, and at nine months, he now weighs almost 20 kilograms. Maybe this is also why he is so tired. But as soon as he wakes up, Tuan is back in action, playing his favorite game, annoying his mother. She shows patience because she knows that her little cub needs this excessive activity to build up his strength and character. The days and weeks go by. Summer arrives with its first vertical rays and heat from the tropics. Zhu, the female cub, repeats the same gestures to sharpen her climbing technique, with varying degrees of success. But she's showing progress. Now she can take refuge high up in the trees in case of danger. She only comes down to feed. In this new summer, our little heroes are now one year old. They are beginning to differ in appearance and in character. But after a year of learning, Tuan is not yet completely weaned from his mother's milk. For now, he still prefers to suckle than to chew tasteless bamboo stalks. The young red-footed ibises are about to take flight. They are barely one and a half months old and will soon have to go further afield to look for food, around 20 kilometers from their birthplace. Mating season or birthing season, each species obeys its own laws and instincts. The red panda will look after its young until they are one year old. Not far away, in the great bamboo forest, the rhinopithecus mothers share taking care of their young with the males. And a particularity of these noseless monkeys is that the young are fed in turn by females other than their mother. This unique social organization among primates is thought to strengthen the immunity of newborns and reduce infant mortality. Down on the ground, May still helps Tuan choose bamboo stalks, which will soon be his only food. This is not very easy to learn, as the most nourishing part is right at the heart of the stem, which he has to strip with its thumbs. Tuan isn't very good at this game, nor patient, despite his sixth digit, which is very useful. It enables him to grab very small stems with his big paws. He must also learn to recognize the different species of edible bamboos. There are over 30, and the variety depends on the season. Little panda must learn the language of bamboo if he wants to grow up properly. The following autumn, our two cubs are now more seasoned and are gradually finding their independence. Tuan's games are more virile. He tests his strength, his skills, his endurance, and his courage. He weighs over 45 kilograms. Every day he develops and grows a little more, but he still has things to learn, and his mother knows how to make him understand that. In the foliage, where autumn leaves are scarce, the adolescent rhinopithecus males, dominated by the alpha male, must disperse to form a harem in another group. Only then can they hope to reproduce. Each week, Tuan gains experience and maturity. He is more dexterous and quicker in getting food. His agility and smoother gestures in order to eat go hand in hand with the development of his teeth and digestive system. His strength has increased tenfold. Tuan now enjoys fresh bamboo. He spends long hours far from his mother in the bamboo forest. May no longer watches over him as she has done so far. On the contrary, she encourages him to go further afield, to find his own food, to free himself from the maternal chains. Another winter shrouds the mountains of Sichuan, the second and last winter that our young pandas will spend alongside their mothers. But this time, Tuan and Zhu are sufficiently trained to face the extreme cold and the scarcity of food. Zhu is walking towards her independence. She spends her days in the trees, alone, no longer clinging to her mother Bao, no longer needing her nurturing arms. Until the day when the invisible bond with her mother is broken and the cycle can begin again. The cycle is such a fragile one for the young Zhu and her fellow species, who depend entirely on the abundance of bamboo, a very special bamboo that blooms only once in its lifetime. When it reaches a certain age, it bears fruit and then dies. The fruiting period is the culmination of its growth and the last stage before a programmed death, the opposite of our life-giving fruit trees. And if the bamboo dies, it would drag the panda to its doom. During these first days of spring, the day has come for Bao and Zhu to part ways. Bao, now fertile again, breaks her ties with Zhu and goes off on her own to find a new father for her future cub. It is the law of nature, even though the mother panda has not taken her eyes off her offspring for almost two years. And her maternal bond is undoubtedly among the strongest in the animal kingdom. However, she has to leave her cub because her instinct leads her to another birth in another land. As with human beings, separations can sometimes take longer to accomplish. The panda is definitely one of a kind, far from the cliches of a cuddly, good-natured teddy bear. Various studies have revealed the panda to be a complex animal with extraordinary abilities. Its bite is surpassed only by that of the polar bear. It can climb trees towering over 20 meters high. It fears no one and can run faster on a mountain at an altitude of over 2,000 meters than an Olympic 100-meter champion. Tuan and Zhu have many years to live in this Eden in the mountains of southwestern China, the last refuge of this endearing two-colored bear, dearly loved by children and designated by adults as the symbol of nature that must be protected at all costs.