A video clip shows "talk" between a giant panda and her keeper. (Photo/Video snapshot)
A video clip showing "small talk" between a giant panda and her keeper has gone viral online.
The video of panda Meng Lan at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding has been reposted more than 30,000 times and received around 60,000 "likes" during the past week on microblog platform Sina Weibo.
The inter-species conversation started when the keeper complained about Meng Lan's weight in the local Sichuan dialect. "You're more than 60 jin (30 kilograms)!" he said when carrying her to the playground. The panda replied with a sound similar to "um." The keeper repeatedly called her a "fat baby," and the panda gave the same response every time.
"I can't hold you any longer. Walk on your own," the exhausted keeper eventually told the panda.
After being put on the ground, Meng Lan seemed angry and refused to move.
"It seems that pandas understand the Sichuan dialect," many netizens remarked.
Zhang Hemin, of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, said the panda's "um" was an expression to show she was happy.
Giant pandas can understand the simple language of keepers, who talk with the pandas every day, said Deng Linhua, head of the veterinary hospital of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.
Staff at the center have decoded 13 different kinds of giant panda vocalizations as part of a panda linguistics project they have been working on since 2010.
Panda cubs barely make any noises except to say "gee-gee" when hungry, "wow-wow" when upset or "coo-coo" when pleased.
"Adult giant pandas usually are solitary, so the only language teacher they have is their own mother," said Zhang.
They learn from their mothers how to express themselves by roaring, barking, shouting, squeaking, bleating and chirping.
"If a panda mother keeps tweeting like a bird, she may be anxious about her babies. She barks loudly when a stranger comes near," said Zhang.
The barking can be interpreted as "Get out of my space!"
Pandas can be as gentle as lambs when "in love." Male pandas bleat like sheep while wooing their mates. The females respond with constant tweeting if they feel the same.
The center plans to continue the study and is looking forward to the invention of a "panda translator" that uses high-tech voice recognition technology.
"If we can understand their language, it will help us protect the animal, especially in the wild," Zhang said.
