Jack stuck close behind Bear as he followed the sounds. Bear seemed to know what he was doing, but Jack knew wild animals could be dangerous …
The grunting came from the other side of a thick cluster of bamboo poles. Jack could also hear a crunching noise. And there was a definite unwashed animal smell. It smelled filthy and stinky yet also clean and healthy, all at the same time.
Bear peered through the bamboo stalks, then gently moved a couple to make a gap.
“Take a look,” he murmured quietly.
Agog with curiosity, yet still nervous, Jack looked.
“Oh … wow!” he whispered.
It was a panda. A real, live giant panda. At first, Jack thought it looked like a big black and white teddy bear, cute and cuddly like in all the pictures. It sat with its back legs stuck out in front of it. Its front claws held on to a thick stalk of bamboo, which it chewed with powerful jaws, crunch, crunch, crunch.
Then Jack looked closer, and he realised it wasn’t cute and cuddly at all.
It was BIG. Sitting down, the panda was as tall as Jack. If it stood up on its back legs it would tower over him. Its black and white fur bulged with muscles under its skin. Jack reckoned it could pull him apart, if it wanted to. The claws that gripped the bamboo were as long as Jack’s fingers, and about a thousand times sharper. And those teeth …
The bamboo stalk the panda was eating was about as thick as Jack’s arm. He wouldn’t be able to bend it even if he used all his strength. But the panda’s jaws were strong enough to crunch through it like it was made of toffee.
The panda turned its head slowly and peered over at the two humans. Its jaws didn’t miss a beat. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Then it slowly looked away again.
This wasn’t a fluffy teddy bear. This was a wild creature living where it belonged. Jack and Bear were the strangers here. Jack felt like he had been allowed into someone’s home – maybe a friend with strict parents. He could stay if he behaved himself and didn’t do anything dumb.
“We’re super lucky to see this, Jack,” Bear said quietly.
“I know!” Jack breathed. He couldn’t take his eyes off it. “I didn’t know there were many pandas still around nowadays.” “There aren’t. Giant pandas still living wild – in the whole world, I reckon there are only a couple of thousand. If it wasn’t for humans looking out for them, pandas would have become extinct years ago.”
“Wow.”
Bear smiled.
“Believe it or not, it’s getting better. Just a couple of years ago, giant pandas stopped being officially ‘endangered’. Now they’re just ‘vulnerable’. It’s a small step but it’s a start.”
Jack stared harder at the panda. He knew he would never get a chance like this again.
“I hope they make it,” he whispered.
“Me too.” Bear paused, then chucked slightly. “But you’ve got to feel sorry for them. They’re meant to be meat-eaters but all they know how to eat is bamboo, which is rubbish for nutrition. It’s almost pure cellulose – that’s the thing that makes plants rigid and chewy – and it’s indigestible, like I said before. Pandas can only digest the tiny bit of bamboo that isn’t cellulose, so to get enough energy, they can do little else but eat bamboo all day long to survive.”
“So they’re not dangerous?” Jack asked.
“Oh, they can be! Any animal can be dangerous if you provoke it, especially a wild one. A panda is a giant bear, after all. You’ve seen those claws and those teeth. If this was a mother and we got between her and her cub, we’d be in trouble. Even if you just tried to take its bamboo away, you’d probably lose an arm,” Bear said. “That’s why we’re not getting any closer than this.”
The panda agreed they weren’t getting any closer. Maybe it didn’t like being stared at. It suddenly rolled forward to stand on all fours, and strolled away from them. As it pushed its way through the bamboo, its powerful body shoved the stalks aside like they were curtains.
The panda took a final look back at Jack and Bear, and spat out the chewed bamboo sticking out of its mouth. Then it disappeared into the undergrowth.
Jack realised he had been holding his breath. He let it out with a puff.
“Well,” said Bear. “That was unexpected.”
“It was amazing!” said Jack. He walked forward and picked up the piece of bamboo the panda had spat out. The end of it had been chewed into stringy pieces. Jack slipped it into his pocket with a grin.
“Souvenir,” he said.
Bear laughed. “You bet. This was worth remembering. Let’s press on … hey, Jack, watch out!”
It was too late. Jack had taken a step without looking where he was going.
His foot plunged into something soft. The most revolting smell in the world rose up and hit him in the face.
Jack looked down. His boot was in a pile of green, extremely smelly panda poo.
“YUCK!”
Jack shouted.
He yanked his foot out of the pile in disgust. But as he stumbled backwards, he sat down right in the middle of an even larger pile of dung.
Bear was trying not to laugh.
“Consider that another souvenir!”
