# Why are people so crazy about the Panda? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 8, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655 "2013-08-08T01:36:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/1 "2013-08-08T01:36:08Z")
[China launches 24-hour Panda channel](http://www.wbir.com/video/2572886524001/1/China-Launches-24-Hour-Live-Panda-Channel). “The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China is launching a free 24-hour live web video channel called iPanda, using 28 cameras to capture every move the more than 80 bears at the base make…” So, why are people so crazy about this animal? Go to any zoo that has them, and it is by far the most popular attraction there. They have separate lines, sometimes seperate tickets, and crowd control in place just to catch a view of them. No other animal has this level of gravitas. Why? I get that they are rare, endangered, and may go extinct. I get that some think they are cute. Other animals have these things going for them, too, but the Panda just seems to be in it’s own orbit in terms of people wanting to see them. Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/2 "2013-08-08T01:37:11Z")
I dunno. What can you say about an animal that is going extinct because they don’t like to have sex? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/3 "2013-08-08T01:48:18Z")
Self sustaining hype? As a kid, I was interested in pandas because magazines published articles about pandas and TV showed pandas, and magazines/TV were talking about pandas because I (and others) were interested in them. You can find the same phenomenon about essentially any topic. Why are people so interested in Israel rather than in any other hot zone on the planet? Why is everybody enthralled by the royals in the UK and Monaco, but not the slighest bit interested in their counterparts in Spain or Luxemburg? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/4 "2013-08-08T02:08:21Z")
It’s not as black and white as you think. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/5 "2013-08-08T02:13:36Z")
I thought this was going to be about Pablo Sandoval. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/6 "2013-08-08T02:21:29Z")
There’s no big mystery here. People like pandas because they’re attractive and cute. They look like plush toys come to life. ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/7 "2013-08-08T02:33:34Z")
Pandas are annoying, stupid and mean. But I reserve my full hatred for dolphins. Fuck them - I’m tired of hearing about them. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/8 "2013-08-08T02:55:28Z")
An alternate [view](http://youtu.be/v5iJPoIynm0) on the subject ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/9 "2013-08-08T03:07:44Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > I dunno. What can you say about an animal that is going extinct because they don’t like to have sex? “Do you think the pandas know they’re Chinese and they’re taking the one child policy too serious?” - [Jim Jefferies](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD4kpmi-GnM) ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/10 "2013-08-08T05:20:44Z")
Well, the Chinese are Godless communists and pandas are bears and bears are Godless killing machines. [cite](http://wikiality.wikia.com/Bears) ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/11 "2013-08-08T08:19:45Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Self sustaining hype? As a kid, I was interested in pandas because magazines published articles about pandas and TV showed pandas, and magazines/TV were talking about pandas because I (and others) were interested in them. I feel that the hype is intensified by “tradition from way back”. The panda has long been a poster child for the general concept of quite large and and spectacular, and rare and hard-to-come-by, animals – plus the cute-cuddly factor. For a good many decades a century-plus ago, the panda had virtually “cryptid” status – it was suspected to be out there somewhere in the far-inland Chinese outback… Between the World Wars, certain celebrities were involved in bringing the species to light: Theodore Roosevelt’s sons, and the glamorous explorer Ruth Harkness who was the first person to bring a live panda – a cub, at that – to the West. The whole thing has been, from the first, natural media-hype-fodder. While giant pandas are lovable, I – like many – get impatient with their utter unadaptability, and reluctance to procreate. I feel more affection for the not-closely-related, much smaller, and slightly less endangered red panda – which looks rather like a raccoon. I’m inept at posting links; but the Wikipedia “red panda” article is informative, and has a nice picture. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/12 "2013-08-08T08:24:51Z")
London Zoo has had a fair degree of involvement with giant pandas, over the years. Its first prominent member of the species was the female Ming (1937 – 1944) – still thought of affectionately at times, in the UK. Ming was roped in for morale-boosting in World War 2 – there’s film of her at the time, wearing an army “tin hat” and with a Union flag in her paw. Fortunately, China was among the Allied combatants; one feels that it would have been awkward if pandas had been a Japanese species. ---
**Author:** ![Fluke54](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@Fluke54](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluke54)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/13 "2013-08-08T08:26:21Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > There’s no big mystery here. People like pandas because they’re attractive and cute. They look like plush toys come to life. Sounds good to me. I saw the Pandas at the National Zoo many years ago and I was captivated by them. They really do look like giant plush toys. ---
**Author:** ![Virgil\_Tibbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Virgil\_Tibbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Virgil_Tibbs)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/14 "2013-08-08T08:29:09Z")
If they didn’t have such a funky colour scheme no one would be interested. They are actually extremely boring animals. They aren’t intelligent and barely do anything. Down with pandas! ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/15 "2013-08-08T13:25:58Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > While giant pandas are lovable, I – like many – get impatient with their utter unadaptability, and reluctance to procreate. Indeed. If one of the major reasons you’re going extinct is because man, fucking is such a bore, you have failed at natural selection. Please stick around long enough for us to sequence your DNA, then proceed to die off at your leisure. Seriously, while animals going extinct falls into the “any man’s death lessens me” that I feel about death generally, the resources that giant pandas are sucking up could be more fruitfully used for… just about anything. ---
**Author:** ![Fluke54](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@Fluke54](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluke54)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/16 "2013-08-08T13:33:22Z")
> [@Virgil\_Tibbs](#): > > If they didn’t have such a funky colour scheme no one would be interested. They are actually extremely boring animals. They aren’t intelligent and barely do anything. Down with pandas! But…but… They are so damn cute! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/17 "2013-08-08T13:40:48Z")
Baby pandas are cute enough, I guess, but I also get pissed at how much money we are spending to ensure that this animal, which as others have said, probably deserves to die out since it won’t fuck, while other animals, that happen to not be cute but far more useful die out. Seriously, what do pandas do for us anyway? ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/18 "2013-08-08T13:50:29Z")
China should start a 24 hour panda porn channel, or spay panda hormones over the panda preserves. ETZ- or perhaps their reluctance might be psychological. They are all chubby, and the males are not well endowed. Maybe all we need is to get them drunk on fermented bamboo and put them in together… ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/19 "2013-08-08T13:53:51Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > China should start a 24 hour panda porn channel, or spay panda hormones over the panda preserves. Even with panda porn they won’t get it on much of the time! If that doesn’t say you’re not fit to survive, I don’t know what does. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655/20 "2013-08-08T14:44:55Z")
CNN: [Why panda sex is so complex](http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/04/why-panda-sex-is-so-complex/) [QUOTE=link] It’s been long known that panda females experience sexual excitement only before ovulation, in a narrow window of time that occurs once a year. The window is open only 24 to 72 hours, sometime between February and May. [/QUOTE] I find that interesting, because the same is true for my ex-girlfriend. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-people-so-crazy-about-the-panda/665655.md?page=2)