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,…
Tag: Zoos
Chinese Zoo: This Is a Real Sun Bear, Not a Costume
Sun, moon, grizzly, black, spectacled, sloth: Bears all over the world can stand, shuffle, totter and walk on two legs, though they usually prefer four. They do not — strictly speaking — talk. But a zoo in Hangzhou, China, decided that the best way to clear up a conspiracy theory about one of its bears was to release a statement in the bear’s voice. The confusion appeared to begin in late July, when a video surfaced on the Chinese social media site Weibo of a sun bear named Angela standing…
‘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…
A Panda Is Coming Home, and Her Chinese Fans Say It’s About Time
After two decades on loan to the Memphis Zoo, Ya Ya, a female giant panda, is heading home to China. To some animal welfare activists and Chinese people, it’s not a moment too soon. They are alarmed by videos and photos of Ya Ya in which she has mangy fur and looks somewhat thin. Two animal rights groups, In Defense of Animals and Panda Voices, have been campaigning to send her back to China “before her health worsens.” They have also blamed the zoo for the death of Ya Ya’s…