In October 2022, just in time for the Qatar World Cup, two giant pandas made the journey from China’s Sichuan Province to Qatar. At Al Khor Panda House, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Doha, they were welcomed to their new home.
The pandas, a male, originally named Jing Jing, now called ’Suhail’ which means star in the sky in Arabic, and a female, Si Hai, named ‘Thuraya’, meaning a bright cluster of stars in Arabic, arrived at their new home on 18 October. The state-of-the-art Panda House features pools, climbing platforms, and an interactive landscape with trees and shrubs. The facility also has a hospital and – for the future – nursery facilities.
MAT has been working with Qatari and Chinese partners since 2019, perfecting the design and creation of the panda habitat and viewing facility. This includes the panda gardens, the veterinary hospital, and the panda nursery. As a world leader in aquatic life support systems, MAT Filtration Technologies developed and constructed two big panda pools with the newest generation of water filtration.
Meanwhile, the MAT Zoological Operations Team took on the zoological operations and day-to-day responsibility for the pandas’ welfare.
Experience in animal welfare & the challenges of caring for giant pandas
The MAT team has over 40 years of experience within the leisure & entertainment industry. It has been involved in the creation and operations of some of the most iconic projects in the world. Areas of expertise leveraged in the Al Khor Panda House project include concept design, zoological consultation, construction project management, and operational services.
Tim Bouts is a zoological director for MAT Zoological Operations. He specialises in zoological management and medicine with a special interest in the anaesthesia and medicine of large herbivores. Zoo enclosure design is also part of his core business. Meanwhile, the research and conservation of wild animals are his passion.
“The biggest challenge in terms of keeping pandas in the desert, of course, is giving them an environment where they can survive,” he tells blooloop. “They are not desert animals. They live in Sichuan province in China, in the mountains. It gets quite cold in winter. In summer, although it also gets warm, the pandas then go to higher altitudes. So, they never really go above temperatures of 25 degrees, which, in the desert, is a beautiful winter day.
“This means we had to completely adjust the environment for the pandas. One element of that is temperature: air conditioning, and also humidity. Another factor is to create a naturalistic environment, even though you are inside. These animals need natural soil, they need water, they need to be able to climb.”
A carefully planned habitat
The giant panda enclosure was meticulously planned. The MAT Team was involved right from the beginning, as were Chinese specialists from the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP).
“Our team was in charge of the panda environment, both the building backstage and the viewing area,” he explains. “It was our job to give the animals the most natural environment possible.”
Several components went into this:
“There is a lot of light coming from overhead, but it has been managed laterally in such a way that there’s no direct sunlight. What was most challenging was to make sure that we had a temperature gradient, to mimic seasons. To get pandas into a breeding condition it needs to be early spring. If the temperature were to remain constant all the time, pandas would never breed. Seasons need to change for the pandas to come into oestrus.”
Additionally, he explains:
“Pandas are not the most sexually active animals, so conditions need to be absolutely optimal. Of course, oestrus detection is a whole different story, and keeping animals indoors is challenging in terms of ensuring that they come into oestrus in the first place.”
Giant panda breeding
Giant panda breeding is being done with more success now than previously. However, boosting the population has been a matter of utilising artificial insemination:
“In captivity, 80% of pandas have been born from artificial insemination,” he explains. “In China now, there is a tendency to move away from AI and to opt for breeding naturally. Now that the numbers have been boosted, breeding is done from captive breeding pairs, and the reintroduction programme is being done from pandas bred naturally from a robust breeding programme.
“In order to ensure that pandas will be candidates for release, they have to be bred naturally.”
Hand-rearing of cubs is also something that has been common in captivity:
“Hand-reared pandas are unlikely to be released into the wild. That means that conditions in captivity have to be optimal so the pandas won’t need to be hand-reared,” Bouts comments. “In terms of what the future holds for these pandas, they will be kept for 15 years in Qatar, and it is hoped they will breed. They are still too young at present; this year they will be four and five years old.
“Female pandas tend to reach sexual maturity at five and males at six. So, perhaps next year there will be an attempt at the first breeding season.”
MAT evolves from filtration to operations
MAT is known globally for filtration. Addressing the company’s multilevel involvement in the project, he says:
“I’m not actually a filtration guy; I’m a mammal guy. I have a zoological background and have done so for many years.”
Bouts earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine at Ghent University, gaining a distinction, then worked as a veterinary surgeon for the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) for five years, before moving to Qatar to take up a position as director of the Al Wabra Wildlife Preserve for almost two years.
He then served as zoological director at Pairi Daiza, a privately-owned zoo and botanical garden in Brugelette, Belgium, on the 65-hectare site of a former Cistercian Abbey, from 2013 to 2022.
He co-founded a zoo consultancy, BV, in 2019, and took up his role as zoological director for MAT in September 2022.
“MAT first became involved in the project for the filtration,” he continues. “They realised at that point that nobody was really looking seriously at the giant panda environment. One thing the company does very well is thinking outside the box. They realised if nobody started thinking seriously about the environment, the pandas would not have a proper habitat.”
See also: New Mazatlán Aquarium: how to build a world-class facility
Building the right team
This was the point at which MAT took on responsibility for the giant pandas’ living environment, as well as the filtration. Having done so, they looked for people with the relevant expertise, which is how they found Bouts:
“When we were working on the whole enclosure, we realised they were also looking for a team to manage the pandas. It came almost naturally because we were so involved in the programme. We decided to take the next step and proposed also to manage the pandas.”
It was, he says, an incremental process:
“It grew almost organically from just being involved initially in filtration, then to the concept design, and then to the management of the animals themselves. I was lucky enough to be trusted by MAT to find my own team and find my own people. We now have a world-renowned team with lots of panda experience and passion for these animals. I think it makes us the perfect team to do the job.”
From parrots to giant pandas
Cissy Kou, curator of Al Khor Panda House, is part of that team. She holds degrees in IT and psychology.
“I always wanted to be a dolphin trainer,” she tells blooloop. “When I took advice about the steps I should take, I was told to do a biology or zoology degree. But then they came up with psychology as a possibility, I thought: ‘OK – interesting. That should be an easier one.’ It’s also relevant, in terms of classical conditioning. So that’s why I went into psychology.”
Her first official job was as a bird trainer:
“I worked at Ocean Park in Hong Kong with parrots and birds of prey, doing the bird show,” she says.
Responsible for the care and maintenance of the animal collection and facility, she played the role of MC in daily bird shows, observed the health and behaviour of the animal collection, and provided operant conditioning skills and training for show behaviours, as well as husbandry behaviours. She also set up Environmental Enrichment Programs for animal collection.
“It was the first step on my route to working with the pandas,” she comments.
A career in zoos
Before taking up her role as curator at Al Khor Panda House in 2022, she worked in a number of roles at Calgary Zoo in Canada, including animal care supervisor, responsible for a collection comprising giant pandas, black and grizzly bears, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, bison, grey wolf, moose, cougar, owls, North American river otter, and King, Gentoo, Humboldt and Rockhopper penguins, and as hospital keeper and animal care attendant at Calgary Zoo’s Animal Health Centre.
Before that, she spent 11 years at Ocean Park Corporation in Hong Kong. Here, she was an assistant curator and operations manager of terrestrial life sciences.
In this role, she was responsible for overseeing the health and best husbandry practices of all animals within the areas, including giant pandas and red pandas, maintaining accurate records, overseeing exhibit maintenance, developing action plans, attending regular medical and operational meetings, performing keeper work as needed, supporting the guest experience, developing, and maintaining area SOPs, and assisting with construction projects.
Important considerations for giant panda welfare
Touching on the considerations that zoos must keep in mind when caring for pandas, Kou says:
“99% of the pandas’ diet consists of bamboo. If you can source a good supply of bamboo, that will solve most of your problems. Then, of course, the design of the habitat is important. It’s nice to have natural substrate and climbable trees. When it comes to outdoor exhibits, shade and water features are important. Pandas have thick fur and need to be able to keep cool.
“In places where the weather is hot, like Singapore and, of course, Qatar, indoor enclosures are necessary. These need to have the temperature and humidity controlled.”
In addition to bamboo, the pandas’ diet includes carrots apples and traditional Chinese ‘Panda Cake’.
The biggest challenge in terms of keeping pandas in the desert is creating an environment where they can survive comfortably. Giant pandas live in the mountains in Sichuan province in China, where it gets quite cold in winter. Although in summer it gets warm, pandas go to higher altitudes where it rarely reaches much above 25 degrees.
MAT was responsible for the ground-breaking panda enclosure from concept design to realization. Every element conforms to the high standards of WAZA, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The pandas’ bespoke habitat is a sustainable environment in accord with the global sustainability assessment system (GSAS), and the standards adopted to conserve energy and the environment.
The park where the Panda House is located was designed to resemble the mountains of the pandas’ homeland in Sichuan. It contains more than 400 trees and nearly 3000 bamboo plants. The enclosure has natural soil, pools for them to swim in, and structures to climb. Temperature, humidity, and air conditioning are precisely controlled to keep them at optimal levels.
A carefully designed new home
Concerning the enclosure’s size, Kou says:
“Pandas spend most of their time eating or sleeping, so they don’t need a huge enclosure. Obviously, they do need a decent amount of exercise: you couldn’t keep them in a small cube. In the wild, they have to travel through the bamboo forest to find food, but in a zoo, obviously, that isn’t the case, so, in terms of enrichment, we put the bamboo in different places to encourage them to forage. They need a decently sized habitat for exercise, but a very big enclosure is unnecessary.”
Giant pandas are perfect ambassador animals, connecting audiences with conservation messaging.
Kou comments:
“I find talking with people about conservation through pandas is easier than other animals, because people usually find them to be cute. If you start by watching the panda eating or tumbling, it’s easy to lead into stories and conversations. People are usually very interested and are more willing to ask questions about pandas than other animals.
“Through that conversation, you can slowly bring in the conservation aspect.”
Giant pandas and conservation education
People are often, she says, under the impression that pandas are still endangered:
“They ask, ‘How many are left in the wild? Where are they?’ That allows you to explain that panda conservation has been successful,” Kou explains.
“Pandas are now simply classified as ‘vulnerable’. That can be linked with other species, with the fact that we’re all part of one joined ecosystem, and with the small, positive behaviour changes we can all make on a daily basis to help. So, from my experience, it’s way easier if you start with pandas, because people are already interested and predisposed to listen to what you’re going to say. It makes them the ideal ambassadors for all the other animals.”
Concerning the improved status of the species, she says:
“Zoos all over the world are doing their own research, and coming together to share that knowledge, and to learn. China is also doing a lot of rescues, learning from wild animals. Pandas’ lifespans in captivity are now way longer – around 30 years – than it was in the relatively recent past because we know so much more about their welfare.”
Pandas in the wild tend to live around 15-20 years. There are around 600 pandas in captivity worldwide.
“Now, pandas are bred based on genetic quality, not purely for quantity, as they were in the past.
In the early days, breeding was a matter of trying to boost the numbers. Now, the focus is on genetic diversity, to make sure the populations are robust and healthy.”
Giant pandas arrive in Qatar
Turning to the subject of the pandas’ arrival, she says:
“It’s very exciting: they’re the first pandas in the Middle East. We shipped bamboo from China so they would have something familiar to eat on arrival, to help them to adapt. At the airport and the welcoming ceremony, it was crazy, with all the media trying to get a story.”
The pandas have adapted happily. They were unstressed by the journey, partly due to the fact that they had plenty of bamboo – and they were crate-trained beforehand. As animals that have been captive for a long time, they are accustomed to human contact, though the pandas’ habitat has been designed to exclude external sounds that might irritate or disturb them.
A large part of the job of an animal trainer, Kou explains, is about ensuring animals remain stress-free in everyday situations:
“Most captive female pandas, for example, are trained to give blood and submit to ultrasounds so we can study hormone levels, identify the optimal time if we’re doing artificial insemination, and check on pregnancies, all without stressing the animal. When people hear about training, they tend to assume it’s for entertainment purposes, but much of it is medical behavioural training.”
The pandas, both born at CCRCGP in southwest Sichuan, are part of a cooperative agreement on giant panda conservation and research. They will remain in Qatar for 15 years.
- Zoos
- Attractions management
- Zoo design
- Animal welfare
- Middle East
- Conservation
