This gif of a panda, which seeks to illustrate a typical reaction to seeing the bill after eating at a fancy restaurant:
reminded me of this post from Mental Floss which outlines the following facts which show that pandas are no bargain themselves:
$1,000,000 PER YEAR IN RENTAL FEES
Zoos around the world don’t own their pandas; they lease them from the Chinese government for as much as $1 million per panda per year.
+60% IN SHORT-TERM GAINS
New pandas can make a zoo’s attendance skyrocket by 60 percent. After the initial excitement wanes, though, zoos are hard-pressed to break even on their panda attractions.
$600,000 “CUB TAX”
Baby bears can trigger a fresh wave of patron interest, but since China knows that a new cub means an influx of cash, it sticks each baby bear with a one-time $600,000 cub tax.
$500,000 PER YEAR MAINTENANCE CHARGES
At $500,000 a year, taking care of a panda is roughly five times more expensive than zoos’ next-priciest animals: elephants.
But pandas also make me think of punctuation, especially this depiction of the comma’s existential anguish:
Why do Pandas make me think of commas?
Because of my favourite joke:
A panda walks into a restaurant.
He orders the most expensive meal on the menu, devouring it completely.
When presented with the bill, the panda draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the waiter, mortally wounding him.
As panic breaks out, the panda calmly gets up and makes toward the exit.
‘Why?’ asks a bewildered, surviving waiter amidst the carnage.
The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
‘Well, I’m a panda,’ he says, at the door. ‘Look it up.’
The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
‘Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.’
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