Today, let’s meet three “national treasure” scientists

Yesterday (the 4th) was the 8th birthday of the star giant panda Menglan, and also the 3rd birthday of the twin siblings Hehua and Heye.

"The Third Prince of Xizhimen" Menglan

The daily cuteness of giant pandas and flowers

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, giant pandas Hehua and Heye

Three national treasures that have attracted national attention celebrated their birthdays on the same day. The life they enjoy now is inseparable from the investigation and research on the living environment of giant pandas conducted by scientists in the last century.

In the 1970s, in order to save the endangered giant panda population, Chinese scientists worked hard to study the breeding and protection technology of giant pandas. Through their unremitting efforts, the number of giant pandas has steadily increased, and the threat level has been reduced from endangered to vulnerable. Among them, three scientists have devoted a lot of effort to the recovery of the giant panda population. Let us walk into their deeds and feel their deep friendship with the giant pandas.

Hu Jinchu: "China's top panda researcher"

Mr. Hu Jinchu is internationally recognized as the founder of giant panda ecological biology research.

Mr. Hu Jinchu is conducting scientific research

He organized and led the country's first field survey of giant pandas, found out the survival status of giant pandas, and invented the "Hu Method" to estimate the number and age of giant pandas. Mr. Hu Jinchu traveled through mountains and rivers, transformed his experience of living in the open air into more than 100 academic papers, and published the world's first monograph on the ecology of wild giant pandas - "Giant Pandas in Wolong".

Mr. Hu Jinchu takes a photo with the giant panda

Hu Jinchu, who is over 60 years old, chose to teach at China West Normal University, devoting the rest of his life to teaching and research, and passing on the giant panda research skills he has acquired over the years to more people. He has trained world-renowned giant panda scientists and passed on the responsibility and mission of protecting giant pandas to the next generation.

Pan Wenshi: The scientist who "pleads" for the giant panda

Among the many scientists who study and protect giant pandas, Pan Wenshi is definitely the "craziest" one. He once stayed in the Qinling Mountains to observe giant pandas in a winter with a temperature of minus 13 degrees Celsius. During one field survey, he fell off a 200-meter-high cliff and almost lost his life.

In March 1990, in Liaojiagou, Qinling Mountains, wild pandas followed Pan Wenshi up a tree to Dingqian.

In 1983, a large area of ​​arrow bamboo forests in Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province bloomed and died, and calls for "bringing all wild giant pandas into captivity for protection" became increasingly popular. Pan Wenshi stepped forward and, relying on the scientific data accumulated from years of field investigations and the conscience of a scientist, wrote a long letter to the State Council, pointing out the dangers of "breeding wild pandas will destroy the population structure of wild pandas."

Pan Wenshi working in the field

Finally, in 1995, the state established the Changqing Nature Reserve, which protected the giant panda’s last habitat on the southern slope of the Qinling Mountains and preserved hope of survival for wild giant pandas.

Zhang Hemin: Inheriting the torch from our predecessors and overcoming the "three difficulties" of raising giant pandas

Zhang Hemin, who is called "the father of giant pandas" by his peers at home and abroad, is a giant panda expert trained by Mr. Hu Jinchu. He inherited Mr. Hu's hard-working, rigorous and serious work attitude, and led his team through 13 years of arduous research, taking the lead in overcoming the world's difficult problems of captive giant pandas, namely "difficulty in estrus, difficulty in mating and conception, and difficulty in raising and surviving cubs".

Zhang Hemin, "Panda Dad"

Under his leadership, the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda has become the world's largest captive population of giant pandas, ranking among the world's leading levels in terms of conception rate, number of litters born and cub survival rate.

Zhang Hemin examines a panda

When we celebrate the birthdays of the adorable Menglan, Hehua and Heye, we must not forget the scientists who protect their living environment. They have conducted arduous investigations, selflessly educated people, and passed on the torch, making my country's giant panda protection cause from scratch and allowing our "national treasures" to live happily.

Produced by: Science Popularization China Star Chasing Dreams

Review expert: Luo Xingbo (Center for Modern Scientists, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Planning: Jiao Ziyuan

Copywriter: Huang Zhongchen (internship)

Source: People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, Xinhuanet, Guangming Online, China Youth Daily