It’s hard not to love Giant Pandas. They are gentle giants. They are practically giant, fluffy Oreos stuffed with cuteness and bamboo. 26 to 84 pounds of bamboo, in fact.
As infants, they are the size of a stick of butter but will grow to 220 to 330 pounds as adults. We can fawn all over pandas as much as we’d like watching videos of them sneezing on YouTube.
No matter how much we do this, they’ll still be endangered.
Although there has been some controversy as to whether they’re on the endangered species list, the World Wildlife Fund marks them as “vulnerable.”
There are about 1,864 total pandas left in the wild, which shows that we’ve made great strides since the 1970s when there were only about 1,000. Although that is a big improvement, there is still work that needs to be done.
The new IMAX film “Pandas” just goes to show now is a critical time to help them.
The 45-minute film follows Qian Qian, a young panda who was born and raised in captivity.
It illustrates the struggle scientists have to train her to live in the wild, which is seen through her constant struggle. Qian Qian was born at Chengdu Panda Base in Sichuan. The facility raised around 200 pandas.
However, it is difficult for the pandas to live outside the facility. As their “vulnerable” category suggests, Giant Pandas can’t live on their own, so it’s going to take a lot of help to move Qian Qian into the wild.
Scientist Hou Rong has a goal to reintroduce the Giant Panda species to the wild, and it all starts with Qian Qian.
That’s where Ben Kilham comes in, approximately 7, 287 miles away from the Chengdu Panda Base.
Ben Kilham runs Kilham Bear Center in Lyme, New Hampshire. It is New Hampshire's only licensed bear rehabilitation center. The center rescues orphaned black bears, rehabilitates them to the forest and releases them once they’re cared for.
Kilham and his sister, Phoebe, have successfully reintroduced 100 black bears into the wild by letting them walk through the forest without the harm of predators.
Wildlife expert, Jake Owens, works with Ben Kilham to introduce Qian Qian into the wild. The film shows Owen’s works with Qian Qian over the course of two years, as we see her mature from a clumsy cub to a giant adult. (Filming started back in 2015.)
Ben Kilham and Hou Rong show they aren’t that much different. Kilham is so often called “Papa Bear,” and Rong is lovingly referred to “Panda Mom.”
Kilham has worked with his bears for over 25 years and hopes the film will inspire more young to pursue conservation and find a need for it.
Pandas hit the box office on April 6. See it now, and save it for a special Earth Day treat.
If you love watching pandas being bottle-fed, sliding down trees or just respect the majestic creature this movie is for you. Kristen Bell narrating the movie is also an added plus.
