Which animal are we most drawn to? Giant pandas are definitely on the list! 

When seeing the cute balls of fur at the Chengdu Panda Base, do you have any questions you want answered? 

Why do they love bamboo so much?

Why do they only eat and sleep?

Why do they look so carefree? 

……

 

 

Don’t worry! You’ll find an answer to all these questions in our Giant Panda Museum. 

The 3D documentary Panda Panda, produced by the Chengdu Panda Base and shot by pandapia, is playing free of charge in the 3D Cinema on the 2nd floor of the Museum. 

From this documentary, you will learn about giant panda history and unravel their mysteries, and you’ll have a wonderful experience - watching 3D giant pandas acting cute next to you!  

 

 

 

01 Other ways to learn about giant pandas

Giant pandas have survived for 8 million years and are meeting with us here. Do they really live off of acting cute like everyone says?

The adorable fluff balls we call giant pandas are the results of nature selection and evolution after 8 million years. It’s believed that this documentary will change your current impression of giant pandas!

 

 

Why do they only hunt for the choicest bamboo? How did they develop their unique black and white fur? How do they grasp their food so differently from other bears? To understand the reasons behind these phenomena, it is necessary to look back and observe their evolution over the past 8 million years.

This cartoon documentary recounts giant panda evolution from 8 million years ago to now.

 

800万年前的始熊猫

 

Except for that, this documentary also tells the tale of how humans achieved artificial breeding for giant pandas, expanding the population of captive giant pandas.

The documentary depicts how keepers create a comfortable social atmosphere for giant pandas, so that they can court at night behind the curtain at the Panda Base.

 

The documentary also interprets the joint efforts the humans and giant pandas do to help captive giant pandas return to their natural habitat in the future.

 

 

This documentary, with a runtime just over 20 minutes, connects the past, present, and future of giant pandas throughout their 8 million years and signals a promising future for giant panda evolution and conservation.

 

02 Behind the scenes

Shooting a 3D documentary takes a lot of work. These cameras start to get heavy when you’re holding them for hours at a time.

 

 

 

Not only that, but cameramen also need to become invisible to the giant pandas while following them year round, while they’re in estrus, delivering, or rearing. They capture the miracles that are their lives as naturally as possible.

 

It is shooting giant pandas adapting to wild life in the Daxiangling Wild Reintroduction Training Site for Giant Pandas.

 

 

They went to many locations to shoot, including everywhere giant panda fossils were discovered, such as Chongqing Sinkhole, Shaanxi, Ya’an…

 

 

 

 

 

When they visited the Chongqing Natural History Museum to shoot Ailuaractos lufengensis fossils, they felt like they were travelling back 8 million years in the past.

 

 

 

 

Except shooting, 3D animation is also of great importance.

To ensure the proper scenes and history, copious amounts of research must be done by thumbing through numerous volumes. Making the cartoon was its own challenge. It can be quite time-consuming to animate animals, especially the details of their fur.

 

 

 

After nearly two years, this first 3D documentary about the 8 million years of evolution the giant panda has undergone is now ready for your viewing pleasure at the Giant Panda Museum.

Are you excited to watch this? Come visit the Panda Base and feel how wonderful it is to meet real giant pandas. And don’t forget to visit the Giant Panda Museum where you can travel back 8 million years and see how the past and present lives of giant pandas connect.