Dutch baby panda is named after Van Gogh, with a nod to Starry Night

DutchNews, August 14, 2020

A webcam still from the promotional video

The baby giant panda born in the Ouwehands zoo in Rhene in May has been named  Fan Xing, which refers to Van Gogh and his painting Starry Night, zoo officials said on Friday. 

Fan comes from Fan Gao which means Van Gogh in Chinese while Xing, which means star, and symbolises hope, is also a reference to the panda’s father Xing Ya. The name is gender neutral because no-one yet knows the baby’s sex. 

In total, 22,000 people from all over the world helped chose the name from a shortlist of five, all of which had a link to the Netherlands. The baby panda and mother Wu Wen are currently remaining in their nest, but officials expect the baby will first be on view to the public in October. 

Fan Xing will stay in the Netherlands for a maximum of four years.  Wu Wen and Xing Ya, who arrived in the Netherlands in May 2017, will return to China in 2032. 

Fans can also follow the baby panda via webcam, at a cost of €1 per hour. The money raised goes to help pandas in the wild, the zoo authorities said.

Leopards, wolves vanishing from panda conservation areas: study

Yahoo – AFP, 3 August 2020

It may be one of the most recognisable symbols of conservation, but efforts to protect the giant panda have failed to safeguard large mammals sharing its habitats, according to research published Monday showing dramatic declines of leopards and other predators.

The giant panda is seen as an 'umbrella' species because its conservation is
considered to help many less well-known animals, plants and birds

The giant panda has won the hearts of animal lovers around the world and images of the bamboo-eating creature with its ink-blot eye patches have come to represent global efforts to protect biodiversity.

Since conservation efforts began, China has cracked down on poachers, outlawed the trade in panda hides and mapped out dozens of protected habitats.

The strategy is considered one of the most ambitious and high-profile programmes to save a species from extinction -- and it worked.

The panda was removed from the International Union for Conservation of Nature endangered species list in 2016 although it remains "vulnerable". 

But a new study published on Monday in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution has cast doubt over the idea that efforts to protect the panda automatically help all other animals in its territory.

Researchers found that the leopard, snow leopard, wolf and dhole -- also known as the Asian wild dog -- have almost disappeared from the majority of giant panda protected habitats since the 1960s.

The findings "indicate the insufficiency of giant panda conservation for protecting these large carnivore species," said Sheng Li, of the School of Life Sciences at Peking University, who led the research.

The authors compared survey data from the 1950s to 1970s with information from almost 8,000 camera traps taken between 2008 and 2018.

They found that leopards had disappeared from 81 percent of giant panda reserves, snow leopards from 38 percent, wolves from 77 percent and dholes from 95 percent. 

The predators face threats from poachers, logging and disease, the study found.

The authors said a key challenge was that while pandas may have a home range of up to 13 square kilometres (5 square miles), the four large carnivores can roam across an area exceeding 100 square kilometres.

Sheng Li told AFP that individual panda reserves -- typically around 300-400 sq km -- are too small to support a "viable population of large carnivores like leopards or dholes".

- 'Enormous charisma' -

Panda conservation has helped protect other animals, he said, including small carnivores, pheasants and songbirds.

"Failing to safeguard large carnivore species does not erase the power of giant panda as an effective umbrella that has well sheltered many other species," he added.

But he called for future conservation to see beyond a single species, or animals with "enormous charisma", to focus on broader restoration of natural habitats. 

He said he hoped this can be achieved as part of a proposed new Giant Panda National Park, a long-term programme that would link up existing habitats over thousands of kilometres to allow isolated populations to mingle and potentially breed.

The recovery of large carnivore populations would "increase the resilience and sustainability of the ecosystems not only for giant pandas but also for other wild species", the researcher added.

The IUCN estimates there are between 500 and 1,000 mature adult pandas in the Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu regions of China.

The conservation group lists the leopard and snow leopard as vulnerable across the areas they are found in, while the dhole is listed as endangered.

Rare red panda born in Dutch safari park

DutchNews, July 14, 2020

An adult red panda Photo: Depositphotos

A rare red panda has been born at the Beekse Bergen safari park in Hilvarenbeek. 

In the wild only 2,500 of the animals are still alive, the park reports, but this newborn is doing well. 

‘We have every confidence that it will grow up,’ head of animal care Kris Jansen said. 

The mother panda was pregnant for four and a half months and the animal was born at the beginning of July. The zoo does not yet know if it is male or female. 

‘In its first period, the young panda is fragile and so we are leaving the mother and father and their son or daughter in peace,’ he added. ‘We disturb them as little as possible, don’t enter the nest and this is why we don’t know the gender of the newborn. Only after three months or so will the young come out of the nest.’ 

However, visitors to the zoo might catch a glimpse of the baby red panda if the mother is cleaning up the nest or temporarily away. Red pandas mostly live in mountainous forests in China near fast-flowing rivers, and eat bamboo, fruit and flowers. They grow to about 50 or 60 cm in height and weigh between three and six kilos, the safari park reports.

First giant panda born in Netherlands

France24 –AFP, 2 May 2020

One of the giant pandas at the zoo holding her cub - Ouwehands Zoo/AFP/File

Wu Wen, a giant panda loaned to a Dutch zoo by China, has given birth in a first for the Netherlands, Ouwehands animal park announced Saturday.

Mating took place in January and the cub, which belongs to Beijing just like the mother and father Xing Ya, was born on May 1.

"The mother and her cub are staying in the maternity den and are doing well," the zoo in the central city of Rhenen said in a statement said.

"This cub was born and conceived naturally," said Ouwehands owner Marcel Boekhoorn.

"Male or female? The cub’s gender will remain a surprise for the time being," he added.

"The keepers are leaving Wu Wen and her cub alone. When the cub leaves the maternity den after a few months, we will be able to see what the gender is.

"When that happens, the little giant panda will be named," Boekhoorn said. The cub will go to China after four years to join the breeding programme.

The mother and father were loaned to the Netherlands in 2017 for 15 years.

Giant pandas are found only in the wild in China where their habitat is shrinking.

However since 2016 they are no longer considered in danger of extinction but remain "vulnerable".

Rare all-white panda spotted in China reserve: State media

Aljazeera –AFP, 26 May 2019

China's Wolong National Nature Reserve is in Sichuan province which is home to 80 percent of the world's wild pandas.

Pandas are currently listed as a vulnerable species, with fewer than 2,000 living in the
wild according to the World Wildlife Fund [Handout Wolong National Nature Reserve/AFP]

A rare all-white panda has been caught on camera at a nature reserve in southwest China, showing albinism exists among wild pandas in the region, state media reported.

The bear was photographed while trekking through the forest in mid-April in southwest Sichuan province, said official news agency Xinhua on Saturday.

The panda is an albino between one to two years old, said Li Sheng, a researcher specialising in bears at Peking University, who was quoted in Xinhua's report.

The Wolong National Nature Reserve - where the animal was spotted - told AFP it had no further details about the albino panda.

More than 80 percent of the world's wild pandas live in Sichuan, with the rest in Shaanxi and Gansu province.

Giant panda park

There were about 548 giant pandas in captivity globally as of November, reported Xinhua.

The number living in the wild has dwindled to fewer than 2,000, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Famed for its "panda diplomacy", in which China dispatches the rare animals to other countries as a symbol of close relations, Beijing has invested in different programmes to protect its furry ambassadors in recent years.

In 2018, China announced plans to create a bastion for giant pandas three times the size of Yellowstone National Park to link up existing wild populations and encourage breeding of the notoriously slow-reproducing animal.

At least 10 billion yuan ($1.45bn) had been budgeted for the Giant Panda National Park in mountainous southwestern China the state-run China Daily reported.

Pandas are currently listed as a vulnerable species, which means that while their survival is still threatened, conservation efforts have helped reduce their danger of extinction.

Panda diplomacy: Two giant pandas from China land in Indonesia

Yahoo – AFP, 28 September 2017

One of two giant pandas stays inside a cage as they arrive at the
Sukarno-Hatta airport in Indonesia

Two giant pandas from China arrived in Indonesia on Thursday in an act of "panda diplomacy" aimed at celebrating 60 years of bilateral ties.

Cai Tao and Hu Chun, both aged seven, arrived from Sichuan province and will be housed at a safari zoo in Bogor, a city near the capital Jakarta.

The pandas were lent by Beijing to mark the diplomatic anniversary despite recent tensions between the nations, with a number of clashes between Chinese and Indonesian vessels in the South China Sea.

The delivery is the first time Indonesia has been lent pandas, the country's forest and environment ministry said, making it the 16th country to be gifted with the animals by China.

A safari zoo will be their home for the next ten years once they clear an initial month-long quarantine.

"We hope we can breed them, that Hu Chun and Cai Tao will mate so they'll have offspring while they're here," said Yulius Suprihardo, a spokesman for Taman Safari Indonesia.

The zoo has built a 1,300 metres squared panda home for Cai Tao, who weighs 128kg (282 pounds), and Hu Chun, who weighs 113 kg (249 pounds).

Giant pandas are considered vulnerable and there are only about 1,800 in the wild, according to conservation organisation World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

China's use of giant pandas -- a national icon -- as gifts has a long history and has been dubbed "panda diplomacy".

Indonesia maintains it has no maritime disputes with China in the South China Sea, unlike other Asian nations, and does not contest ownership of reefs or islets there.

But Beijing's expansive claims in the sea overlap Indonesia's exclusive economic zone -- waters where a state has the right to exploit resources -- around the remote Natuna Islands.

The skirmishes have prompted Indonesia to bolster defences there.

In July, Indonesia changed the name South China Sea to North Natuna Sea to show its sovereignty in the waters, prompting criticism from Beijing.

Icy treat for panda stars' birthday in Dutch zoo

Yahoo – AFP, August 8, 2017

Giant panda Xing Ya celebrated his fourth birthday with an ice cake in Ouwehands
Dierenpark zoo. Xing Ya and Wu Wen are on loan from China and will stay in the
Dutch Zoo for the next 15 years (AFP Photo/Remko DE WAAL)

The Hague (AFP) - Two multi-layered "cakes" made from ice, vegetable juice and fruit greeted a pair of giant pandas at a Dutch zoo Tuesday for their first birthday party since arriving from China.

Female Wu Wen (Beautiful Powerful Cloud) and her male companion Xing Ya (Elegant Star) both turn four this month and officials at the Ouwehands Dierenpark in the central town of Rheenen decided to throw a joint party.

"At first they both approached the cakes with caution, with the male panda giving his an exploratory lick," said animal biologist Jose Kok.

"Then they became curious and realised 'hang on, this is something nice in my enclosure' and not long after that, the cake's layers were separated," Kok told AFP with a laugh.

It took a week to prepare the icy treats, which where also layered with the pandas' favourite food: bamboo shoots.

The two panda "superstars" arrived in The Netherlands in mid-April after an 8,000 kilometre (5,000 mile) journey from China, following years of negotiations in what has been dubbed "panda diplomacy".

Officials decided to hold their birthday on August 8, the eighth day of the eighth 

month, figures which according to Chinese culture means good luck (AFP Photo/

Remko DE WAAL)

Male panda Xing Ya turned four on August 5, while Wu Wen was born on August 11.

Officials decided to hold their birthday on August 8, the eighth day of the eighth month, figures which according to Chinese culture means good luck, Kok said.

Dozens of delighted visitors were also treated to a real birthday cake in the form of a giant panda.

The two pandas will be housed at the zoo for the next 15 years and for now are being kept in two separate enclosures, specially built for them at a price of seven million euros ($8 million).

But Kok said it is hoped that the two bears would mate within the next year to help replenish global panda numbers.

Some 1,864 pandas remain in the wild in China, an increase from around 1,000 in the late 1970s, according to the environmental group WWF.

And just over 400 pandas live in zoos around the world, in conservation projects set up with Beijing.

Panda mania hits Germany as China's cuddly envoys arrive

Yahoo – AFP, Hui Min NEO, June 24, 2017

The excitement at the welcome press conference gave the pandas a taste
of what might be to come in their new home (AFP Photo/Tobias SCHWARZ)

Berlin (AFP) - Germany had its first taste of panda mania on Saturday as two furry ambassadors arrived from China to begin a new life as stars of Berlin's premier zoo.

The pair, named Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, jetted in on a special Lufthansa cargo plane, accompanied by two Chinese panda specialists, the Berlin Zoo's chief vet and a tonne of bamboo.

A crowd of journalists and officials on hand to welcome the VIPs let out an "ooooh" as Meng Meng raised a paw after flight LH8415 made an especially gentle touchdown at Schoenefeld airport.

The black and white pair, clearly groggy after the 12 hour 20 minute flight from Chengdu in southern China, lay resting in their travelling crates during the welcome ceremony in a hangar.

Until, that is, the Chinese ambassador to Berlin got a little too close, prompting Jiao Ling, the male, to stand up, roar and beat his paws against the plexiglass sides of the crate.

"From this evening, their German and Chinese handlers will stay with them... we'll do everything to help them calm down so they have a good night, eat well and rehydrate themselves," Berlin Zoo director Andreas Knieriem told AFP.

After just over a week's acclimatisation, the pair will be unveiled to the public by no less than Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, most likely two days before the G20 summit of world leaders hosted by Germany.

The pandas were flown in on a special cargo flight from China (AFP 

Photo/Tobias SCHWARZ)

Famed for its "panda diplomacy", China has dispatched its national treasure to only about a dozen countries as a symbol of close relations.

Export giants Germany and China have nurtured increasingly close economic ties, and over the last year the have also taken on the leading role in championing free trade as Donald Trump shifts the US away from market liberalisation with his "America First" push.

"The Chinese see the pandas as Chinese brand ambassadors. China obviously has an image problem in Europe and giving pandas is a very smart and easy way to win hearts," said Bernhard Bartsch from the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank in Berlin.

The "pandas will lend a very positive spin in German media to the visit by Xi Jinping in July," he added.

Bamboo snacks, absorbent mats

The excitement over the two bears was clear as the zoo published a daily update on its blog in the run-up to their arrival.

The flight to Germany was carefully prepared, with "bamboo snacks" to keep the pandas happy and absorbent mats to ensure the transport box stayed dry and odourless.

And their new home at Berlin's zoo will measure about 5,500 square metres (59,000 square feet) and comes fitted with a wooded climbing area and an artificial stream.

Meng Meng means "dream" in Chinese, while Jiao Qing translates as "darling", though the Chinese characters are a composite of "tender" and "festive" or "celebration".

The Berlin Zoo built a special enclosure for the two pandas it is receiving from 

China just a few days before a G20 summit in Germany (AFP Photo/Wolfgang Kumm)

But the honour of hosting them does not come cheap.

The zoo will pay $15 million (13.4 million euros) for a 15-year contract to host them, with most of the money going towards a conservation and breeding research programme in China.

And the pandas' main dish -- bamboo -- will cost tens of thousands of euros each year.

The zoo will probably look to offset part of its outlays through panda-themed merchandising.

Ultimately, it hopes that the pair will produce babies, even if experts have warned that panda reproduction is a fine art.

Panda expert Jerome Pouille said that "the female is only receptive to a male for about 24 to 48 hours a year", adding that there was little chance of a cub within the first three years.

China has previously given three pandas to Germany, but the last one, 34-year-old Bao Bao, died in Berlin in 2012, having become the oldest male panda in the world.

About 1,864 pandas remain in the wild in China, up from around 1,000 in the late 1970s, according to the environmental group WWF.

Just over 400 pandas live in zoos around the world, in conservation projects set up with Beijing.

Related Article:

Panda-mania in The Netherlands as Wu Wen and Xing Ya make their public debut

Panda-mania in The Netherlands as Wu Wen and Xing Ya make their public debut

Panda-mania in The Netherlands as Wu Wen and Xing Ya make their public debut @OuwehandsZoo 🐼🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/XtjI0skhuY

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 31, 2017

Giant pandas head for the Netherlands, and the bamboo is on order

DutchNews, April 12, 2017

Workers carry the female giant panda Wu Wen to a transport cage.
Photo: Chinatopix Via AP

Two giant pandas destined for a 15-year stay in a Dutch zoo, left China for the Netherlands on Wednesday. 

The plane carrying the pandas, as well as 200 regular passengers, is due to land at Schiphol airport on Wednesday evening, and the giant mammals, behind sheets of plexiglass, will then be introduced to the Dutch public for the first time. 

However, Wu Wen (Beautiful Powerful Cloud) and Xing Ya (Elegant Star) will not be seen by the zoo public for some time because they will first be held in quarantine for up to six weeks. 

The pandas are heading for the Ouwehands Dierenpark zoo in Rhenen which has spent 16 year campaigning to bring pandas to the Netherlands. The zoo invested €7m on a special compound which was given official Chinese approval earlier this year. 

The cost of the new compound plus the €900,000 a year fee means that entrance tickets will be more expensive: visitors will be paying a so-called ‘panda tax’. 

Bamboo

The pandas are expected to go through 500 kilos of bamboo a week, which will be sourced from a bamboo grower in Asten and delivered weekly. The company Bamboo Giant, also supplies the food from a selection of different types of bamboo, for pandas in Vienna and Edinburgh. ‘The pandas are choosy,’ director Bennie Nielen told the NRC. ‘Every week the keepers in Vienna and Edinburg send us an overview of what they have eaten and what they have not touched so the menu can be adapted.’ 

The pandas are accompanied by a keeper and a vet from China who will stay with them for at least three months. And in case the pandas do decide to procreate, the female Wu Wen has a bigger enclosure with room for a baby.

Good news, pandas recently have been removed from the endangered species list! What is it about pandas that makes them so universally loved? pic.twitter.com/U4xLhUL5Qe

— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 13, 2017

Chinese approve Dutch panda preparations

DutchNews, January 12, 2017

Photo: Depositphotos.com

Chinese zoo inspectors have approved the new panda compound at Ouwehands Dierenpark in Rhenen, NOS writes. 

The zoo, which is hoping to welcome a pair of giant panda’s from China in the spring, spent €7m on the compound which was reportedly judged by the Chinese as one of the most beautiful they had seen so far. An earlier version did not pass muster but was improved to meet the exacting standards of the Chinese zoo authorities.

‘It’s an incredibly beautiful, traditionally Chinese building. We really went all out on it,’ zoo director Robin de Lange told the broadcaster. 

Ouwehands Dierenpark had been trying to persuade the Chinese to lend them a pair of pandas for 15 years. A royal state visit to China in 2015 speeded up matters. The zoo is hoping that Wu Wen (Beautiful Powerful Cloud) and Xing Ya (Elegant Star) will be feeling sufficiently at home to produce offspring. 

The cost of the new compound plus the €900,000 a year fee means that entrance tickets will be more expensive: visitors will be paying a so-called ‘panda tax’, NOS said.

World's oldest captive giant panda, Jia Jia, dies aged 38

After weeks of deteriorating health, the world's oldest giant panda in captivity has died at a Hong Kong theme park. Jia Jia was a gift from Beijing on the second anniversary of Hong Kong's independence from Britain.

Deutsche Welle, 16 Oct 2016

Hong Kong giant panda, Jia Jia

Veterinarians were forced on Sunday to euthanize the world's oldest captive giant panda in Hong Kong in order to prevent the animal from further suffering.

"This is a day we knew would eventually come, but it is nevertheless a sad day for everyone at the Park, especially for the Park's keepers who took care of her over the years," Ocean Park chairman Leo Kung said in a statement.

Giant panda Jia Jia was born in the wild and was taken to a wildlife reserve's breeding centre in 1980, when she was around two-years-old.

Euthanasia to 'prevent suffering'

After taking medication for high blood pressure and arthritis in old age, Jia Jia's condition deteriorated significantly over the past two weeks. As her food consumption plummeted from 10 kilograms (22 pounds) a day to less than three, the panda dramatically lost weight.

"Her state became so debilitated that based on ethical reasons and in order to prevent suffering, veterinarians from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and Ocean Park [authorities] agreed to a humane euthanasia for Jia Jia," the theme park said.

Race to save the species

Although pandas are traditionally symbolic animals in China, Jia Jia carried extra significance as she, along with another panda An An, were gifts from Beijing to Hong Kong in 1999 on the occasion of its second anniversary of independence from Britain.

Jia Jia, whose name translates as 'excellence,' held the Guinness World Record as the oldest living giant panda in captivity. The average lifespan for a panda is only 18 to 20 years in the wild, although that jumps to 30 for pandas in captivity.

Due to their low birth rate and the destruction of their natural habitats, captive breeding programs have become essential to ensuring the species' survival. According to Ocean Park, Jia Jia gave birth five times to six panda cubs whilst in captivity.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) estimates that there are fewer than 2,000 giant pandas now left in the wild.

tm/jlw (AFP, AP)

China is lending the Netherlands two pandas

DutchNews, October 26, 2015

China is lending two giant pandas to the Netherlands, foreign affairs minister Bert Koenders said on Monday. 

The minister was speaking in Beijing on the second day of a state visit by king Willem-Alexander and queen Máxima. 

The loan is ‘a sign of the special bond between China and the Netherlands’, the minister told Dutch media. 

The loan is definitely a sign of close ties between the two countries, but the Netherlands has been pushing for it for some time, according to Volkskrant reporter Marije Vlaskamp. 

‘Prime minister Mark Rutte did not ask explicitly during his visit to China two years ago, but he hardly stopped talking about it,’ she writes. 

The pandas are not a gift and will cost the Netherlands money, although how high the cost will be is not known. 

The pandas will housed at Ouwehands Zoo in Rhenen, but it is not yet known when they will arrive. ‘It depends on the preparations, including the building of an enclosure for them,’ a spokesman told the Volkskrant. 

Junior economic affairs minister Sharon Dijksma says she has signed an agreement with the Chinese forestry commission for the two animals. She says it offers the opportunity for working together on other animal protection programmes.

Zoos in Taiwan and China arrange sika deer for pandas swap

Want China Times, CNA and Staff Reporter 2015-09-15

Sika deer at Shoushan Zoo in Kaohsiung. (File photo/Lin Hsiu-li)

A zoo in southern Taiwan said Sunday it has reached an agreement with a zoo in China to exchange a pair of Formosan sika deer for two giant pandas.

The Shoushan Zoo in Kaohsiung will give two of its sika deer to the Chengdu Zoo in southwest China's Sichuan province, said Chuang Hsuan-chih, director of the zoo.

In return, the Chinese zoo will gift two of its pandas to Shoushan Zoo, Chuang said.

The exchange is expected to enrich the diversity of species at Shoushan Zoo, which has been seeking to do so but has been limited by its funding and space.

The zoo, which attracts around 1 million visitors each year, said it is hoping to attract private investment to expand the zoo complex.

Shoushan Zoo expects it will be at least two years before the exchange can take place, due to the complex process and paperwork.

Taipei Zoo received two pandas from China in 2008, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan. The pair produced a cub in 2013 named Yuan Zai, which has become the zoo's star attraction.

Bamboo-zled: Panda surprises with birth of twins

Yahoo – AFP, 23 Aug 2015

Washington (AFP) - A rare giant panda called Mei Xiang gave birth to twin cubs at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, apparently surprising delighted zoo officials who had expected just one baby.

A first tiny cub -- pink, hairless and only about the size of an adult mouse -- was born at 5:35 pm (2135 GMT) and Mei Xiang reacted by tenderly picking up the cub.

This image released August 22, 2015

courtesy of the Smithsonian's National

Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute 

shows giant panda Mei Xiang in labor 

(AFP Photo)

Immediately after the zoo announced the birth, the live video feed from her straw-lined enclosure appeared to have crashed, likely due to a high volume of viewers, the zoo said.

"All of us are thrilled that Mei Xiang has given birth. The cub is vulnerable at this tiny size but we know Mei is an excellent mother," zoo director Dennis Kelly said.

Pandas are famously challenging to breed in captivity, but just when conservationists thought they had heard all the good news, the zoo tweeted just a few hours later: "We can confirm a second cub was born at 10:07. It appears healthy. #PandaStory."

The birth of the twins appeared to be a surprise because the zoo's Twitter feed had only previously referred to the expected birth of a single cub.

The mother panda's care team had begun preparing after they saw Mei Xiang's water break about an hour before the first birth. They hope to carry out neonatal exams in the coming days and won't know the cubs' sex until a later date.

Paternity tests

Mei Xiang ("beautiful fragrance"), 17, was artificially inseminated in April with frozen semen from a male giant panda named Hui Hui that resides at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province.

Giant Panda Mei Xiang, who gave birth to twin cubs at the Smithsonian National

 Zoo in Washington, is shown in a file picture from last year keeping a watchful eye

on her earlier cub Bao Bao (R) (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)

She was also inseminated with fresh semen from the zoo's male giant panda Tian Tian. DNA tests will establish which is the father.

Mei Xiang had a cub in 2005 which was sent to China, and another, Bao Bao is now two years old and lives with her in Washington.

But she also lost at least two other cubs, one that was stillborn in 2013 and another that lived just six days in 2012.

This year, Mei Xiang exhibited signs of pregnancy in July that included sleeping more, eating less, building a nest and spending more time in her den.

The zoo said Mei Xiang will spend almost all her time in her den for the next two weeks. The enclosure will be closed to provide quiet, though online "panda cams" provide a video stream of the creatures.

Mei Xiang eats a bamboo breakfast January 6, 2014, inside her glass enclosure

at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, DC (AFP Photo/Paul J. Richards)

On Tuesday, Malaysia announced that a giant panda at its National Zoo, Liang Liang, had given birth. The newborn's sex has yet to be determined.

There are fewer than 2,000 pandas now left in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund, as their habitats have been ravaged by development.

Roads and railways cut through the bamboo forests they depend upon in China's Yangtze Basin, their primary habitat.

Pandas rely on bamboo and eat almost nothing else. Given their low birthrate, captive breeding programs are key to ensuring their survival.

This image released August 23, 2015 courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Zoo shows
 the second of two giant panda cubs being examined by veterinarians (AFP Photo)

Related Article:

Newborn panda twins vocal, 'very, very active': US zoo

Hong Kong giant panda Jia Jia becomes oldest ever

Yahoo – AFP, July 28, 2015

Giant panda Jia Jia stands next to her cake made of ice and fruit juice to mark

 her 37th birthday at an amusement park in Hong Kong on July 28, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Philippe Lopez)

Hong Kong (AFP) - It may not be considered a landmark birthday for humans, but turning 37 on Tuesday made Hong Kong's Jia Jia the oldest-ever giant panda in captivity, and she celebrated in style.

The equivalent of more than 100 years old in human terms, Jia Jia was presented with a towering birthday cake made from ice and fruit juice with the number 37 carved on top in her enclosure at the city's Ocean Park theme park.

"Jia Jia has achieved two Guinness world record titles -- the oldest panda living in captivity and the oldest panda ever living in captivity," said Blythe Ryan Fitzwilliam, adjudicator of Guinness World Records, during a ceremony at the park.

He offered her his congratulations, saying it was an "amazing longevity achievement".

Jia Jia was born in the wild in Sichuan, China in 1978 and was given to Hong Kong in 1999 to mark the semi-autonomous city's handover by Britain two years earlier.

The previous record was held by a male panda called Du Du, who was also caught in the wild and died in July 1999 at the age of 36 in a zoo in China's Hubei Province.

Vet Paolo Martelli said Jia Jia was still "moving about" though she suffered from cataracts and high blood pressure.

"She is sleeping more, so is doing everything less. But she is ageing gracefully, just like your grandma," he said.

Jia Jia was born in Sichuan, China in 1978 and was given to Hong Kong in

1999 to mark the handover by Britain two years earlier (AFP Photo/Philippe Lopez)

Because she eats less bamboo she relies on fibre supplements, Martelli added.

Jia Jia, whose name translates as "excellence", picked at fruit slices and bamboo around the ice cake to celebrate her big day.

Although the exact birth dates of Du Du and Jia Jia are unknown because they were born in the wild, Guinness said that based on the evidence, they've concluded that Jia Jia had claimed the title by a few months.

There are fewer than 2,000 pandas now left in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund, as their habitats have been ravaged by development.

Roads and railways cut through the bamboo forests they depend upon in China's Yangtze Basin, their primary habitat. Pandas rely on bamboo and eat almost nothing else.

Given their low birthrate, captive breeding programmes have become key to ensuring their survival.