episode description
Nigel looks back on his months in China, and spends his last few days with Lang Lang and her cubs. He also visits other panda mothers at Wolong to see how Lang Lang’s cubs will develop. Within a few months they’ll be eating bamboo, and at a year old they’ll weigh nearly 50 kilos. Nigel also joins scientists to see how re-introduced pandas are doing. This is a new, cutting-edge process to see whether captive-bred bears can be used to top-up the wild population. As they trek through the forest they pass jousting golden pheasants. Eventually the radio-trackers locate a female panda- she seems to be in good health- a sure sign that the work at Wolong could help bring the panda back from the edge of extinction. On the way back through the forest, Nigel dwells on the wildlife he’s met on this expedition – the takin, black bears, snub-nosed monkeys and giant salamanders have taken his breath away. It’s with great sadness that he boards a plane to the UK, but he’s excited to think that for generations to come, Lang Lang’s cubs and their descendents could be roaming wild in the immense bamboo forests of China.
