YONGIN, South Korea (Reuters) — Why are giant pandas black and white? It’s a question that has eluded scientists for decades. But now, biologists in California say they have cracked the panda color code. To figure out why pandas are so different from other bear species that are almost all just one color, researchers say they had to deconstruct the animal into parts. “Our breakthrough was to divide the panda’s body up into different areas. […]
Tag: panda
Zoo prepares to say bye-bye to Bao Bao
WASHINGTON D.C., United States (Reuters) — Giant panda Bao Bao will leave the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. next week and move to China under a breeding agreement and officials at the Smithsonian National Zoo are preparing her for the long journey. Bao Bao, a three-year-old female, who was the first surviving cub born at Smithsonian’s National Zoo since 2005, has enchanted zoo visitors and others who watched her via live “panda cam” footage. She […]
World’s oldest panda in captivity celebrates 37th birthday in China
FUJIAN, China (Reuters) — Basi, the world’s oldest panda in captivity celebrated her 37th birthday on Wednesday (January 18) in southern China’s Fujian province, state media reported. Basi is the inspiration for Pan Pan, the mascot for the 1990 Beijing Asian Games. Panda fans from all over the world including the UK, Switzerland and Japan came to Fuzhou Panda World to attend the birthday celebration, said the CCTV report. Basi, whose age is the equivalent […]
Twin pandas meet each other for first time in Shanghai
THE giant panda twins born in Shanghai Wildlife Park met each other for the first time on Friday after they were born one month ago. The cubs have grown black fur on their ears as well as the unmistakable “panda eyes”. Upon receiving a physical examination, the baby boy weighed in at 1,350 grams while his younger sister weighed 1,168 grams. They weighed just 131.5 grams and 113.2 grams, roughly equivalent to the weight […]
Panda wrestles with zoo intruder in China
NANCHANG CITY, JIANGXI PROVINCE, China (CCTV) — A sleeping giant panda wrestled a man who entered his enclosure on Thursday (October 27) in southern China’s Jiangxi province, state media reported. State broadcaster CCTV showed surveillance video of a man sneaking into the enclosure and touching the head of the panda named Meiling in provincial capital, Nanchang. Meiling is a 12-year-old male panda of over 120 kilograms, it added. According to the footage, Meiling got up […]
World’s oldest panda in captivity dies in Hong Kong
HONGKONG, China (Reuters) — The oldest giant panda living in captivity, 38-year-old Jia Jia, was euthanized in Hong Kong after rapidly deteriorating health over the past two weeks, her owners Ocean Park said on Sunday. Jia Jia, whose name means “good”, had been gifted to Hong Kong in 1999 along with another panda, to mark the second anniversary of the city’s handover from former colonial ruler Britain. In recent weeks Jia Jia’s food consumption had […]
Panda cubs make public debut in China ahead of National Day
CHENGDU, China (Reuters) — At the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base on Thursday (September 29), 23 panda cubs, made their first public debut ahead of China’s National Day, which falls on October 1. Aged between one and four months old, the cubs lay on their bellies, occasionally exerting just a little effort to crawl a few inches forward. This year, the research base has welcomed almost double the number of newborn pandas, according to […]
Eats shoots and rarely breeds: giant pandas ‘still at risk’
by Julien GIRAULT CHENGDU, China (AFP) — The giant panda may have been taken off the endangered species list, but the emblematic black and white bear still faces a plethora of risks including epidemics and climate change, Chinese breeding centres say. Every morning, with the dawn light shimmering on their patchy coats the young residents of a panda breeding centre in southwestern China shred their favourite breakfast — bamboo. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant […]
Survey finds giant pandas no longer ‘endangered’ in China
by Kerry SHERIDAN HONOLULU, United States (AFP) — Decades of conservation work in China have paid off for the giant panda, whose status was upgraded Sunday from “endangered” to “vulnerable” due to a population rebound, officials said. The improvement for the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) was announced as part of an update to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, the world’s most comprehensive inventory of plants and animals. The latest estimates […]
Chinese giant panda gives birth in Belgium
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — A giant panda on loan to Belgium from China has given birth to a cub, a rare event for the endangered species, the Pairi Daiza zoo said Thursday. The zoo and the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda “have the great pleasures to announce the birth of a panda cub”, Pairi Daiza said in a statement. “Less than 2,000 pandas can be found in the wild, making every […]
Double happiness as giant panda gives birth to twins in U.S.
(Reuters) — Giant panda Mei Xiang, a star tourist draw in the U.S. capital, gave birth to a pair of cubs hours apart on Saturday (August 22), the National Zoo said. Mei Xiang gave birth to her first cub at 5:34 p.m. (2134 GMT) after her water broke about an hour beforehand, zoo officials said. About four and one-half hours later, at 10:07 p.m., a second cub arrived and appeared healthy, the zoo said. […]





