Pandas World Tour
The Pandas World Tour stopped in Jhongsing Village over the weekend. An outdoor exhibit of pandas [Ailuropoda melanoleuca] and Formosan black bears [Ursus thibetanus formosanus] took over a park near our house. The exhibition spotlights the importance of protecting endangered animals. The 1600 paper-mache pandas were created by French artist Paulo Grangeon. On the Taiwan leg of the tour these pandas were accompanied by 200 Formosan black bears – an endangered species endemic to Taiwan.
The significance of the numbers is that there are an estimated 1600 pandas and 200 Formosan black bears remaining in the wild.
There was a massive line to stand between a couple of enormous panda statues and hold a paper mache panda. In contrast, the line for the colossal [and more threatened] Formosan black bear was significantly shorter.
The Daily Bubble Tea 
What a wonderful way of helping people become more aware of the crisis that panda bears are facing…Karen
It is a good way to raise awareness but the crisis the Formosan black bear faces is an extremely dire one. Its plight is virtually unknown outside of Taiwan.
I’ve been following the touring pandas ever since I saw a link about them on the Harper’s Bazaar Malaysia Facebook page a few months ago. I think it’s a great way to spread awareness on the importance of wildlife protection, it’s nice to see that the artist has included the Formosan black bear in his exhibit, and I hope to see more endangered animals added to it in the future. Thank you for sharing these photographs, they’re fantastic! And I had no idea the panda sculptures were so big- I guess you always learn something new…fabulous post!
Thank you Ana! I’m surprised the exhibition came down to Nantou after being in Taipei. Usually these kinds of things skip over us.