Panda movement study: Hong Kong’s Ocean Park team discovers An An’s energy-saving habits

Researchers at Hong Kong’s Ocean Park have discovered how An An, the world’s oldest male giant panda under human care, conserved energy with its movement patterns in a research study the team has said can be used to improve the animals’ living environment.

The Ocean Park team released on Friday the research findings based on more than two years of observations of the bear before it died.

Researchers added they would also carry out similar behavioural observations and analyses on the new pair of giant pandas gifted by Beijing before improvement works would be considered for their home within the park.

“Science of animal welfare is a developing field. We test and try to come up with new solutions to help our animals and measure how we can do that constantly,” said Dr Eszter Matrai, senior research fellow of the Ocean Park who led the research.

“This is just a new tool that potentially could help and can be implemented for other animal exhibits as well,” she added.

An An died in July 2022 at the age of 35 – the equivalent of 105 years in human age.

He arrived in Hong Kong in March 1999 together with Jia Jia, the world’s oldest giant panda in captivity at the time of her death in 2016 at the age of 38. The pair were the first two pandas sent to the city by Beijing.

The research team tracked An An’s activities, movement patterns and habitat preferences between July 2019 and January 2022, with a total of 422.5 hours of observation time across 169 observation days before he died.

The team found that An An spent 35 per cent of his time being active.

Matrai said the study contributed to the limited research on the behaviours of old animals, adding that most of the previous studies only focused on veterinary medicine.

“We were focusing on An An’s habitat use and behaviour in these last two years and this makes the study one of the very few that’s focusing on behaviour for all animals,” she said.

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Eszter Matrai (third from left), Ocean Park’s senior research fellow, poses for pictures with the research team and Le Le in the background. Photo: Dickson Lee

The team examined An An’s preferences across a total of 15 pathways, including both gentle and steep slopes, in two habitat zones at the Ocean Park through live observations and video analyses.

Researchers found that the bear efficiently conserved energy by favouring locations near his den, and preferred gentle slopes when ascending and steeper paths while descending.

The movement patterns led him to cover greater distances while moving uphill than downhill, which mirrored behaviours seen in wild giant pandas, according to researchers.

“When he was walking up here he would choose the slope that was gentle, so he walked a longer way around the exhibit,” Matrai said. “But when he was coming back down, he sometimes chose and preferred a shorter way down so he could get his food or any of his favourite enrichment and to save energy.”

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Wreaths are laid to remember An An after he died in 2022. Photo: Felix Wong

Matrai said their new pathway analysis method helped assess the physical health of the animals under human care, and the research outcomes could also enhance the welfare of giant pandas by suggesting improvements in exhibit design to improve comfort for the bears.

She said desirable items like food could be placed in specific areas at the habitat zone to stimulate interactions and optimise habitat use of the animals.

She added that the method developed by the team could also be adapted to study other species and used by other facilities.

The study was published in July in the journal Zoo Biology.

Earlier in July, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced that Beijing was gifting a new pair of giant pandas to Hong Kong to mark the 27th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty.

Besides An An and Jia Jia, Beijing also sent another pair of giant pandas, Ying Ying and Le Le, to Hong Kong in 2007 to mark the 10th anniversary of its handover. Le Le is 19 years old while Ying Ying will also turn 19 on August 16.

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