As the UK’s only giant pandas leave Edinburgh zoo , returning to their native country after a 12-year sojourn away from China, the era of panda diplomacy also looks to be coming to an end. Tian Tian and Yang Guang will board the panda express back to Sichuan less than a month after three giant pandas left the Smithsonian national zoo in Washington DC, ending the zoo’s five-decade panda programme. The homecoming of the five giant pandas in recent weeks reflects the end of long-agreed lease arrangements. Zoos typically pay…
Tag: Animals
Britain Says Bye-Bye to Its Only Pandas as They’ll Soon Depart for China
Britain’s only two pandas will soon be returned to China, officials said, in a send-off that has dispirited fans of the playful, waddling bears and signals what appears to be the end, at least for now, of panda diplomacy. “Bamboo bon voyage,” the Edinburgh Zoo of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland said on its website, noting that there would be “a giant farewell” on Thursday for the bears, whose names are Yang Guang and Tian Tian. The pair of giant pandas will be prepared to return to China in…
Two giant pandas begin return to China from Smithsonian’s National zoo
The two giant pandas at the Smithsonian’s National zoo officially began their return to China on Wednesday. The two panda bears, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, had been in the United States on loan from China for more than two decades as part of a research agreement set to expire early next month. Their cub, three-year-old Xiao Qi Ji, is also going. The giant pandas will be forklifted in a crate out of the zoo on Wednesday and then transported on a 19-hour flight to a panda reserve in Chengdu,…
China local governments launch crackdown on dogs after child was mauled
Local governments across China have launched a crackdown on dogs after a toddler was mauled by a rottweiler earlier this month. The child was injured while walking with her mother in Chengdu on 16 October, leading authorities to announce they would tighten control of dogs while reiterating the importance of “civilised dog ownership”. China state media reported the toddler was transferred out of the ICU on 23 October and her vital signs are stable at the moment. The police have taken criminal coercive measures against the dog’s owner, and the…
How Chinese water deer found a home in the English countryside
A long, thin, pearly white tusk found while walking in Bedfordshire was identified (with the help of a warden from the local country park) as having fallen from the jaw of a Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis). The deer is a shy Asian species that is firmly established in the east of England. Like the slightly smaller muntjac, it escaped almost a century ago from the Duke of Bedford’s collection at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire. The species does not have antlers but long canine teeth that males use for seeing off…
‘Human in a costume’ sun bear draws crowds to Chinese zoo
Visitors have flocked to a zoo in eastern China’s Zhejiang province after a video of one of its bears went viral with some suggesting she looked so human she could be a staff member in a bear suit. Attendance numbers at Hangzhou zoo have risen by 30% to about 20,000 a day, with some people travelling overnight, since a video of the Malayan sun bear, named Angela, became a trending topic on Chinese social media over the weekend, Zhejiang-based Chao News reported. “After seeing this bear standing up on the…
Chinese zoo denies its sun bears are humans dressed in costumes
A zoo in eastern China has denied suggestions that some of its bears could be humans dressed in costumes, after video of one standing on its hind legs circulated online. In a statement published on Sunday from the perspective of Angela, a Malaysian sun bear, zookeepers at Hangzhou zoo said: “When it comes to bears, the first thing that comes to mind is a huge figure and amazing power … But not all bears are behemoths and danger personified. We Malayan bears are petite, the smallest bear in the world.”…
‘It’s not like chicken farming’: why manta rays are chopped up in Sri Lanka
Every morning, starting at 3am, Lakshan hacks up manta rays. A wholesale buyer who plies his trade at Sri Lanka’s largest fish market, in the city of Negombo, just north of Colombo, he jostles with fishers offloading their catches. His business is primarily to find fresh tuna but he also buys 700kg (1,540lb) of manta and devil rays every day. He doesn’t want the ray’s meat, which most Sri Lankans don’t eat. Instead, he’s after the gill plates: cartilage that helps manta and devil rays filter out microorganisms in ocean…
What Are Raccoon Dogs?
On Thursday, scientists unveiled new data on the possible origins of the Covid-19 pandemic — and put a strange, squat creature squarely in the spotlight. Meet the raccoon dog; it earns its name from its black facial markings, which give the animal a masked appearance and a more-than-passing resemblance to those infamous raiders of urban trash cans. The animals were at least occasionally sold at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where many virologists suspect that the Covid-19 pandemic may have started. Scientists had previously announced that swabs from the market…
New Data Links Pandemic’s Origins to Raccoon Dogs at Wuhan Market
An international team of virus experts said on Thursday that they had found genetic data from a market in Wuhan, China, linking the coronavirus with raccoon dogs for sale there, adding evidence to the case that the worst pandemic in a century could have been ignited by an infected animal that was being dealt through the illegal wildlife trade. The genetic data was drawn from swabs taken from in and around the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market starting in January 2020, shortly after the Chinese authorities had shut down the market…