SKIRMISHER

After making their cuddly pandas watch “panda porn,” now this Thai zoo is earning big bucks from another panda-derived product: multicolored paper made from the animals’ daily poop.

When keepers of the country’s panda couple — Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui — got tired of disposing the 55 pounds of feces daily produced by the duo, Prasertsak Buntragulpoontawee came up with the idea of turning it all into notebooks, fans, bookmarks and key chains.

“At first the Chinese were very skeptical,” says the head of Chiang Mai Zoo’s panda unit, referring to the proprietary attitude China takes toward its iconic animal.

But the multicolored paper products have proved hot selling-items at the zoo, with the $8,200 earned to date helping balance the accounts of panda keeping.

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Panda poop paper production involves a day-long process of cleaning the feces, boiling it in a soda solution, bleaching it with chlorine and drying it under the sun. Experimentation continues on how to reduce the chemicals now used.

via USA TODAY

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