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and particularly when it’s scented with panda
urine and sometimes panda faeces. Pandas
go by smell, not sight, so it was a stinky
endeavour, but one I’d do again if asked.
It was one of the most rewarding
assignments, and also like being in a Wes
Anderson film: I’d wake up and get inside
a panda costume, and everyone else I wasworking with was also wearing panda
suits, sometimes missing an ear or a tail.
Pandas are ubiquitous; we’ve almost turned
them into cartoon animals. What I learned
about pandas surprised me. That’s what
happens when you go deep into any story.What did you learn about the ‘secret
lives’ of pandas?
The first thing that surprised me is that they’ve
been on the planet for eight million years. If
you look at ancient Chinese art, you’ll never
see a representation of a panda bear. You’ll
see every other animal in the forest, but
never a panda, because they were hidden
from humanity for so long. They were
little legends, like Bigfoot.Above: Ye Ye, a 16-year-
old giant panda, in a
wild enclosure at a
conservation centre
in Wolong Nature
Reserve, China.“ Overnight, I went from
ƏȇژƏȅƏɎƺɖȸɎȒƏɯƏȸ
photographer. I don’t
recommend doing that”