www. katelynpandablog.com By, Natalie Lovvoll “Dad, why do we need to move each year?” I asked quietly as I stared at the floor. Ever since I was three our family had to move every single year due to my Dad’s job. My Dad replied with the usual, “Sorry we need to do this honey, but I have to do this for my job. Who knows? Maybe you’ll see your favorite animal the panda while we’re in China. You know, China is known for their pandas. They even have pandas on their money!” That’s something else that my Dad always says, something good about the country or state we’re moving to. When we were moving to Australia my Dad said, “Honey, maybe you could see how UGGS are made.” That never happened, and I doubt that I’m going to see a panda. “The plane to China will be landing in 30 minutes, thank you for flying with us on Jet Blue airlines,” Said the computer -sounding flight attendant. As we were walking to go pick up our luggage, I looked around the airport. My Dad was right, China does have a lot of panda themed places; they even had a fast food place called the “Holy Panda”. The airport also had American restaurants like McDonalds and Dunkin Doughnuts, but the names were all written in Chinese, which is an unfamiliar language to me. Life sure was going to be different here. It was a good thing we were only going to be in China for a year. Next year, I’ll finally get to live back in America. Like they say in the national anthem, “My home, sweet home.” “Home sweet, home honey,” my Dad said as we walked in to our 14th new home. So really this wasn’t our “home”. I would call it a cottage not a home. You stay for a year then move to a different one the next year after that. Then my Dad said something I never thought he would say “How about you take the car and go to the mall? Maybe you’ll make some new friends there!” Well, how could I say no to the chance to go in our new convertible and 80 dollars in cash? Who knows, maybe I’ll even learn some Chinese! Though I didn’t learn any Chinese at the mall, I did enter a contest. The contest was to see who could learn the most facts about the panda. You have to post blogs on a website about pandas. So of course I entered because one, I love pandas and two I also know a lot about pandas. I’m even going to the zoo to see a panda! “抱歉，我不讲英语，但是我可以告诉您关于熊猫用中文，熊猫只吃竹子，并且熊猫每天吃磅竹子每天 “said the Chinese zoo keeper. This means “Sorry, I do not speak English, but I can tell you about the panda in Chinese. The panda only eats bamboo and each day they eat 20-40 pounds of bamboo,” said my translator whose voice sounded like a blank canvas. “Thanks” I replied happily, a grin spread across my face. Then I decided to go home and do what my Dad always does; type, type, type! This is a list of all the facts I want to put on the blog. Panda Facts . Pandas can be also called “large bear cats” or “bamboo bears” . Pandas are curious and playful . A wilds panda’s diet is 99% bamboo . Baby pandas are born white then develop coloring later also they are blind for 5 months . Most pandas can live to be 20 years or older . Pandas do not hibernate like other bears . Pandas are endangered Those are all the facts I have for now, but soon I’ll have much, much more. I went back to the mall and I found out that the prize for the contest was a trip for two to go see the black bear, the grizzly bear, and of course the panda bear! I guess my Dad was right. Maybe I will see a panda! I decided to go to the zoo again and surprisingly there was a zoo keeper who spoke English! “Hi, do you want to learn about pandas?” said the friendly American zoo keeper. “Sure” I replied. “Well, the panda is very good at climbing trees and swimming. The panda has an extra “thumb” to help them climb the trees.” said the zoo keeper. “Thank you,” I said. Then the zoo keeper said, “Here’s a book filled with tons of panda facts. Maybe you could learn more about pandas from it.” “Thank you, so, so much.” I said. Then I decided to go back home and read! Back at home, I read a great book on pandas written by John Crossingham. I took some of the facts to write the following blog. Pandas, Raccoons, Cats, Oh My! By, Katelyn Willow What are pandas? That question has been asked thousands of times by scientists. They thought the panda was a bear, cat or raccoon. They thought the panda was a giant raccoon because it uses its front paws to hold its food. Scientists also thought the panda was a raccoon because the pandas face looked like the face of the raccoon. Scientists thought maybe the panda was a type of cat because the red panda looks like a cat. But really the red panda and the giant panda surprisingly have no relation to each other! Scientists thought that the panda might be a bear. Most people also thought the panda was a bear too because it has the most similarities to the bear. They both stand on their legs and are both great at swimming and climbing trees. Scientists soon tested the pandas DNA and found out that the panda wasn’t a cat or raccoon it is a bear! The next day I went to the United States Library in China. As I walked into the library I spotted a white haired old lady who looked like a Librarian. I walked over to her and she said in English “Can I help you?” “Um, do you happen to know where the panda books would be?” I replied. “The panda books are on that shelf over there. It has a big panda stuffed animal on top of it!” “Thanks” I said to the helpful librarian. The library had loads of panda books. I checked out about half of them. Theses books are going to help me so, so much with my panda project! I started reading Giant Panda By, Yvette Metral. It was loaded with facts like on page two it says, “Pandas were discovered about 100 years ago. The first man to find a panda thought it was a bear. That was because it had thick legs and wooly fur.” I’ve read all of my books and I made a couple blog entries. Here are a few of them! Pandas Eating Habits and Extinction Did you know that Pandas only eat bamboo? So it’s not a good idea to cut down the bamboo forest. Not only are you cutting down their home you are making cute pandas starve. The panda’s diet is 99% bamboo. The panda eats 20-40 pounds of bamboo a day! Pandas are endangered and they could become extinct. Would you want to never be able to see pandas in the bamboo forests of China again? You can save pandas by donating money to WWF or to Panda Trust. People need to stop cutting down the bamboo forest or soon pandas might become extinct. I got my information to write that from “Giant Panda in Danger of Extinction, by Anna Clayborne” This is something else I posted on the blog the next day. Red Panda, Giant Panda what’s the Difference? How are they Similar? So what’s the difference between the Red Panda and the Giant Panda? Is it just their name and how they look? The answer is no. The Giant Panda and the Red Panda have much more differences than just their name and how they look. In fact the Giant Panda and the Red Pandas are actually two different types of animals. Though their names sound similar, the Red Panda and the Giant Panda actually have no relationship to each other. The Giant Panda is a type of bear and the Red Panda is a type of raccoon. The Giant Panda and the Red Panda have more differences than that though. They also have a big difference in their weight. The Giant Panda weighs 200-300 pounds and the Red Panda only weighs 11 pounds! Giant pandas also tend to be more playful than the Red Panda. The Red Panda and the Giant Panda are also similar. Sadly both these two animals are endangered. They are both Asian mammals and China is the only place they live besides zoos. The Government of China protects both of these Asian mammals. The giant panda and the Red Panda both eat bamboo. But the Giant Panda eats it much, much more; the Red Panda also eats grasses, roots, nut and berries. The giant panda only eats bamboo. Red Pandas and Giant Pandas are not related to each other even though their names are very similar. I got that information from “Giant Pandas By, Karen Dudley” I learned a lot more about pandas by doing this contest, I just hope I win! Today I took my panda project to the mall to hand it in, and I asked how long the trip would be. The lady said “全部的，整个的；所有的，一切的” which means one whole year! I rushed home to go tell my Dad. He said nervously, “Great, Honey. I hope you win that contest!” “I do too,hey Dad why do you sound so nervous?” I questioned, trying to meet my father’s wandering blue eyes. My dad replied even more nervous than the first time. “Me? Nervous noooo, I’m not nervous one bit!” I couldn’t take it anymore, so I just asked my Dad “Really, what’s the matter?” “Honey, I know you’ll get really mad at me if I tell you this,” said my Dad slowly. “No, Dad I promise I won’t!” I said quickly. “Honey, I’m sorry but we won’t be moving to America next year.” “Its okay dad, I know you have a really complicated job, thanks for telling me, though,” I said sadly, ready to leave the room. I thought back to the other time that my dad said the same thing. I was 6 years old, and my dad told me that we weren’t moving to Paris. I remember my dad telling me that we had to move to Japan. I can just picture my Dads sparkling blue eyes telling me “ Honey I’m so sorry but we won’t be moving to Paris this year, hey maybe in Japan you’ll get to eat some new types of candy!” Even though I did get to taste some Japanese candy, I’d much rather live in Paris. I wasn’t even listening to what my Dad was saying. But then I listened and my Dad said loudly “Sorry honey, but I need to do this for work, hey maybe you’ll get your first job in Mexico!” said my Dad loud but cheerful, but I knew from his eyes that he too was disappointed too that we were not moving to America. I decided to go up to my room and email my friend who lives in America. If I win this contest, maybe I could live in America. Then again, it would only be a year. I guess I will get to live in America for a year! I got an email today that told me I won the contest! I rushed down stairs to tell my dad. “Guess what dad!?” I was so excited I didn’t even give my Dad time to answer. “I won the contest!” I said loudly, smiling at my Dad who was tapping away at the computer. “I knew you would honey, great job!” said my Dad sounding more proud than he did when I got chosen to be Dorothy in are school play the Wizard of Oz. “Dad the prize was a trip for two to America and you get to see the black bear and the grizzly bear and the panda! I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come with me dad.” I said quickly. “Honey, of course I want to come to America! I can just write my books there instead of Mexico!” Then we started packing! “You will be landing in America in 30 minutes. Thank you for flying Jet Blue airlines.” This time I didn’t ask the usual question “Dad why do we need to move each year?” I didn’t need to, we were finally back in the USA! This time I didn’t see any Holy Pandas or anything written in Chinese. I just saw the normal American McDonalds and Starbucks. “Home sweet home honey!” my dad said, in front of our old house that I lived in 13 years ago. The only thing different from the other times that he said that was that this time I believed him. Work Sited Page Claybourne, Anna. Giant Panda in Danger Extinction. 2nd ed. Illinois: 2005 Print. Dudley, Karen. Giant Pandas. 2nd ed. Canada: 1917 Print. Crossingham, John. Endangered Pandas. Canada: 2005 Print. Metral, Yvette. The Panda. 3rd ed. London: 1983 Print Panda Fun Facts." Panda Kids. Web. 10 Feb. 2001. . \
