Record lives,not just pandas.
Panda Forest is a growing forest of real giant-panda lives. We record individual names, families, places and life events, so that each life can continue to be understood.
Every panda is more than a photograph or a number.
Getting to know a panda.
We begin with what we can establish: names, families and experiences. Over time, these details help bring a life into view.
- Identity
- Names, and known birth information, sex and life status.
- Moments
- Recorded births, namings, changes of place and deaths.
- Family
- Parents and other family relationships that can be established.
- Places
- Evidence-based physical place information, rather than live location tracking.
Where our information comes from
Begin with verifiable public material.
We prioritize public information that can be checked, including material from zoos, government, research institutions and studbooks. Other credible public sources can help fill in the picture.
A report can offer a lead, but it still needs checking. When information is missing, we leave room for more rather than fill the gaps with guesses.
Follow a citation to its source.
A citation helps you find where information came from. Read it alongside the relevant entry: one source does not establish every detail of a profile.
Cited information can change as new evidence appears. A missing public citation does not necessarily mean that something has never been checked.
Sources appear alongside panda profiles and timelines so you can read them in context.
Unknown is an honest record.
When a date, place, parent, relationship or date of death cannot be established, we keep it unknown. Missing information is not a blank to fill with a guess.
- Year
- If a source gives only a year, keep the year.
- Month
- If it gives only a month, do not invent a day.
- Day
- Record a full date only when the evidence supports it.
Records can be revised.
New reliable evidence can lead to a revision. The aim is to come closer to what is known, rather than preserve a story that merely looks complete.
Photography & credits
A photograph brings us a little closer. Pandas without photos belong here too.
We retain each photograph’s existing attribution. When no suitable public photograph is available, the panda’s story stays here without one. We never substitute another panda’s photograph or a generic image.
An independent, continuing project.
Panda Forest is an independent project, rather than an official zoo, research institution or government website, or an official database service. Citing an institution’s public material does not imply affiliation, partnership or endorsement.
Two languages. One life record.
Chinese and English draw on the same information. The wording may differ; the facts, date precision, places, family relationships and event status stay consistent.