Chapter 641 - 531: If It’s Dark in the East, It’s Bright in the West

Chapter 641: Chapter 531: If It’s Dark in the East, It’s Bright in the West

His infallible talent had finally stumbled.

This rarely happened.

Shen Xin’s competitive spirit instantly flared up. He asked Ma Tao if he could go inside.

’It must be because Walnut’s back is turned,’ he thought. ’He just hasn’t seen me.’

’Otherwise, it would only take one look for him to like me.’

"Don’t."

Ma Tao quickly stopped him, explaining, "Forget strangers—Walnut won’t even let people he knows get close. We only interact with him under special circumstances."

"I have no idea why. When I went to Kang Province to bring him back all those years ago, his personality was fine."

"He was a little aggressive, sure, but we keepers could still get close to him."

"But now that he’s older, his temper has just gotten worse and worse. He’s like this with everyone."

He leaned against the iron gate and called out a few more times. Getting no response, he looked helpless. After a moment’s thought, he said, "Actually, we’ve been trying to figure out what to do with him."

"You see, he’s not on public display anymore. He just has this tiny enclosure. Professor Wu from the research center mentioned last time that Walnut might be depressed."

Confined year-round in this tiny, palm-sized area.

In the past, he could at least act cute and watch the endless parade of humans. It was some form of entertainment.

Now he could only stare at the same old faces of us keepers. After so long, he was bound to feel cooped up and depressed.

Ma Tao continued, "The research center held a meeting last year to discuss what to do with Walnut. Someone suggested we try releasing him back into the wild."

Since 2003, China has been running a program to reintroduce captive pandas to the wild. Over the years, we’ve successfully released several of them.

The success rate is very high. They’ve all integrated smoothly into the local populations.

Shen Xin curiously asked if there had been any progress.

They had discussed it at a meeting last year, and it was already the end of this year.

Ma Tao called out to Walnut again, then said, "Well, how should I put it... For one thing, while Walnut was rescued from the wild, he was very young when we found him."

"His mother was dead, so his survival skills might not be strong enough. We’re not sure what might happen if we release him."

"And second, the research center still wants to pass on Walnut’s genes."

He kept his eyes fixed on Walnut as he explained the basics of panda breeding to Shen Xin.

After so many years as a panda keeper, he had really become an expert.

According to him, China mainly has two subspecies: the Qinling subspecies and the Kang Province subspecies.

The Qinling Mountains are where giant pandas originated. Because they’re separated by high mountains, there’s a significant genetic difference between the two subspecies.

Over in Kang Province, that subspecies has branched into four distinct populations.

One of the most important is the Minshan population.

They have shorter snouts, rounder faces, bigger behinds, and more distinct black-and-white markings.

Simply put, compared to the Qinling subspecies, they’re considered cuter.

Motianling serves as the border between Longzhou and Kang Province, splitting the mountain range in two. The hundred or so pandas in the Baishui River Nature Reserve on the northern slope belong to the Minshan population, but they have their own unique wild gene pool.

"The Baishui River population has produced many ’hero’ sires."

Ma Tao ticked them off on his fingers. "For example, there’s Yangyang, who was rescued from Tielou Town near the Baishui River. He’s overseas now and has a lot of descendants. That ’bicycle-seat face’ people talk about online? It started with him."

"Then there’s Qiangqiang. He’s one of the six founding fathers of our Jin City breeding base. The Meimei family, the largest in China today, descended from him."

Qiangqiang and Meimei were a devoted pair their entire lives, creating the largest panda family in China, the Meimei family.

"There’s also Lin Nan. He’s actually our Meng Lan’s great-grandfather. Let me put it this way: he’s the one responsible for the good looks of our pandas. The so-called ’puffy-faced’ family all comes from Lin Nan."

"He single-handedly raised the cuteness standard for our entire panda population."

He was also from the Baishui River area.

That’s why the Baishui River population is famous for having round faces and being especially cute.

"And Halan, and Changchang... they’re all from the Baishui River, and they’re some of the best-looking members of our panda family."

"I’m not saying looks are everything, but with pandas... as they say online, ’cuteness is king.’ So, Officer Shen, you should understand how important Walnut is."

There are only about a hundred giant pandas in the Baishui River Nature Reserve.

Both Qiangqiang and Lin Nan were rescued many years ago.

Most of the captive pandas in China share their genes.

Over time, genetic diversity starts to decrease.

This is why introducing new genes is the best option.

"Walnut is the perfect candidate. He’s built a lot like Qiangqiang—broad-shouldered, sturdy, and powerfully built."

His aggression is also indirect proof of just how robust he is.

"His looks aren’t half bad, either. His face isn’t perfectly round, but he has a large frame, which makes him look more handsome. And look at his fur—it’s thick, dense, and the black and white are sharply defined. These are all genetic strengths."

Ma Tao pointed at Walnut, whose back was still turned to them.

"He rarely gets sick, too. When we rescued him, his mother had likely been dead for a while. He was only about a year and a half old, so for him to survive on his own after losing his mother... that’s not easy."

"Plus, he’s smart. He’s absolutely the best choice for diversifying the panda gene pool."

"In 2014, when he was seven, we tried to include him in the breeding program. We started with natural breeding, attempting to pair him with Meng Lan’s mother, Meng Meng."

Meng Meng was born in ’06, so she’s around the same age as Walnut.

Unfortunately, Walnut showed zero interest in Meng Meng. When we put them together, he beat her up more than once.

We even sent him to Jin City at one point to try and pair him with the many female pandas there, but it never worked out.

Walnut is just too aggressive, both with humans and with other pandas.

This went on until 2017. That’s when we gave up on natural breeding and started considering artificial insemination. It was also when some people brought up releasing him into the wild.

As he spoke, Walnut, who had been sitting still the whole time, finally moved. He rolled over, his action not clumsy at all, but surprisingly agile.

At eleven years old, Walnut was in his prime.

Ma Tao’s eyes lit up, and he quickly called Walnut over.

Shen Xin took the opportunity to get a look at Walnut’s face.

Shen Xin had seen pandas on live streams before, but while he wasn’t face-blind, he honestly thought they all looked the same.

However, Ma Tao had mentioned that Walnut was powerfully built and handsome.

Now that Ma Tao had said it, Shen Xin took a closer look and realized he might have a point.

He was clearly much more robust. As he ambled forward, he radiated an air of unrivaled dominance.

This was probably because he didn’t even spare Shen Xin a direct glance.

Then again, it might have been his eyes.

With those black eye patches and black pupils, it was hard to tell if he was looking at you or not.

But Shen Xin was frustrated once again.

’In any case, Walnut’s face isn’t turned toward me, which means he really isn’t giving me the time of day.’

Just then, Ma Tao ushered them out, so Shen Xin had no choice but to give up for now and leave.

Walnut ambled into the caged area, and Ma Tao huddled in a corner as if facing a formidable enemy.

Walnut paid him no mind, plopping down beside a pile of arrow bamboo and starting to eat.

Every afternoon, around three or four o’clock, the pandas would be given an extra meal.

He grabbed a stalk of bamboo. CRUNCH. A stalk thicker than a finger was snapped in two as easily as a lollipop stick.

It revealed a set of sharp, white teeth.

This beast was supposedly the mount of Chiyou, the so-called "iron-eater."

Their bite force is astounding, and it’s well-documented. In ’79, a giant panda broke into a farmer’s house and chewed up a kitchen cleaver and a metal thermos.

In ’81, at the Wolong Nature Reserve, a panda named Lily chewed up and swallowed her own iron food bowl.

When they recovered the pieces later, they weighed less, which means pandas can even digest some metal.

Ma Tao closed the iron gate, then cautiously retreated from the enclosure, keeping a wary eye on Walnut the whole time.

After the cage door was secured, he finally let out a long sigh of relief and called them over to help clean.

’This is good, though. At least he’s in a smaller cage, so I can get close.’

Shen Xin greeted Walnut through the cage bars.

Huddled in a corner, it silently gnawed on bamboo, completely ignoring Shen Xin as if he didn’t exist.

Shen Xin was absolutely certain it had seen him.

He couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated.

Ding Yuwei squatted beside him, chuckling. "It’s about time you got a taste of what it’s like for the rest of us."

The animals he’d met before had always come at his call; he’d never experienced being treated like he was invisible.

"Just wait," Shen Xin said, undeterred. "You just watch. I guarantee he won’t be able to live without me."

’I’ve won over tigers. This is just a giant panda.’

Since they were here, Shen Xin asked if they could go see the zoo’s biggest star.

In other words, Meng Lan, the Third Prince of West Gate.

"Of course, no problem." Ma Tao wasn’t surprised by the request at all.

Since Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei would be working at the zoo for a while, Ma Tao first took them to the staff area. He got them lockers and issued them rubber boots and work uniforms.

He introduced them to the other keepers as he showed them the ropes.

It was now three or four in the afternoon, which was typically time for the pandas’ afternoon snack.

Meng Lan was in the Olympic Hall next door.

The two of them carried a bundle of arrow bamboo and followed Ma Tao into Meng Lan’s outdoor enclosure.

"Normally, an adult panda’s routine is to eat until they’re full, then sleep. They don’t move around much. Oh, and they don’t have to worry about getting fat."

After spending some time together, Ma Tao became more talkative and even started joking around.

He said a giant panda gets around eighty pounds of bamboo a day. Even though they’re picky eaters, they still consume forty to sixty pounds.

"Add in their snacks and treats, and they basically eat all day without exercising, yet they never gain weight. They have the perfect metabolism."

"So we try to spread their meals out. We can’t let them get completely full in one sitting, or they’ll sleep for ages."

"This serves two purposes. First, it encourages them to be more active. Second, it’s for the visitors. People come from all over; they can’t just watch a panda sleep, right?"

As he spoke, Ma Tao opened the door and walked into Meng Lan’s outdoor enclosure.

He mentioned that Meng Lan was lively, playful, and very friendly toward people. He would even hold out bamboo stalks, as if to "reverse-feed" the tourists.

When the mood struck him, he would even climb the structures in his enclosure and do the splits for the visitors.

Before, Shen Xin had always watched pandas from behind a glass wall. Now, he was the one inside, being watched.

Meng Lan was the zoo’s top attraction. During peak hours, they even had to limit how long each person could stay to watch him.

As a result, the area outside was packed with people holding up their phones, snapping photos from every angle.

Meng Lan himself was leaning against a tree stump, his head pillowed on one arm and tilted to the side. He looked like someone taking a nap at their desk on a warm afternoon, presenting the visitors with nothing but his adorably dazed face.

"Shen Xin, he’s so cute,"

Ding Yuwei whispered to Shen Xin.

His posture, both lazy and playful, was enough to melt anyone’s heart.

Ma Tao tiptoed forward, signaling for them not to disturb the sleeping panda.

However, their entrance had already startled Meng Lan.

He immediately turned his head and glanced at Ma Tao.

His "dad" was here, so a quick glance was sufficient.

Then, his gaze shifted and landed on Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei.

And once he saw them, he couldn’t look away.

It was as if Meng Lan had been jolted awake. He suddenly shuddered and sat bolt upright.

The movement was so abrupt that he comically tipped backward and did a somersault.

Thick-skinned and well-padded, he didn’t seem to mind at all. He rolled with it, tumbling off the climbing structure, then tilted his head to study Shen Xin, his eyes filled with curiosity.

It was as if he were thinking, ’Now who is this interesting person?’

Shen Xin sighed inwardly.

’Just as I thought. Walnut was the exception. I’m still as popular with animals as ever.’