Karma Art Sunday - Panda Painting
"Pandas" by Enzie Shahmiri
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding which is located in China, dedicates all it's effort to researching ways to create healthy habitats for Pandas in which these cuddly looking animals can thrive and breed to assure the longevity of this species. I got so excited about what they do that I was inspired to paint the two Pandas below.
"The giant panda is a rare and beloved animal that only inhabits the six major mountain ranges in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces of China. With a population of less than 2000, the species is included on the endangered list by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and is protected by China’s Wildlife Protective Law as the special-class protected animal." Source Panda.ORG
The center also offers educational programs for young students to teach them about the animals and why it is important to preserve their habitat. How to prevent the spread of diseases and assure that off springs have the proper living conditions to prosper. I also liked that the Chengdu Research Base addresses:
1.Conservation education- offering training courses for school teachers, natural reserve staff and key members of environmental conservation societies at Universities to build their environmental conservation knowledge.
2.School projects - education projects in primary and secondary schools, and kindergartens. This includes optional courses in the subjects of water resources, wildlife conservation and biodiversity, and more and also incorporates extracurricular activities as well as tutorials for students of various ages to integrate environmental education into daily classroom teaching.
3.Natural reserve project - Wildlife in natural reserves are severely threatened by growing human population and increased tourism in the region. The center conducts surveys to locate potential threats and holds training courses on a case-by-case basis to teach environment conservation practices to encourage environment conservation and sustainable living.
4.Community project - To expand conservation education, the center conducts numerous environmental conservation themed promotional activities in the community, schools and other places, including "protecting the giant panda, protecting our common homeland" charity sales, To be a Qualified Pet Owner", Care for Animal Wellbeing, etc.
5.Education tourism project - To support tourist groups, “International Interns”, “Summer Camp”, “Off-campus Activities”, “Parent-child Tourism”, and other projects are offered to educate tourists through “Interactive Presentation Stand”, “Panda Story Cinema” , The Hall of Giant Panda Research, Giant Panda Museum and other venues with advanced international exhibition concepts to increase visitors knowledge and understanding about conservation.
6.Other approaches for conservation education: In addition those that wish to visit but cannot come to the panda base, information is available on related websites and various publications like the magazine Giant Panda, various tutorials, conservation education readings, and audiovisual products on conservation. The center has a wonderful, information packed website and panda blog, which has been very popular.
Giant pandas are considered China's national treasure. Many of us have never seen a life panda and we rely heavily on exchange programs organized by zoos. I was fortunate enough to be able to see the pandas at the San Diego zoo, because of a panda exchange program and that's why I feel that supporting the Chengdu Research Base is a very worthy cause.
If you like to buy a print of my painted Pandas click below.
