The panda pair Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan eat bamboo together at the Taipei Zoo on Saturday, February 28, 2009. [Photo: cnsphoto]

Giant panda fever continues to grip Taiwan as the bears received their 500,000th visitor Saturday.

The Taipei zoo, awarded a primary school student from Changhua County with a stuffed animal, stationary and a book to celebrate the occasion.

Jason Yeh, the zoo's director, said the panda pair remained in good physical condition despite their big audience which is limited to 22,000 people per day.

The male weighed 108 kg while the female, "Yuan Yuan," lost some weight as it just finished its fortnight estrus period that started in mid February, he said. "Yuan Yuan" now weighs 103.6 kg..

The two pandas, named "Tuan Tuan" and "Yuan Yuan"(when linked, their names mean "reunion" in Chinese) arrived at the zoo on Dec. 23 last year.They made their public debut Jan. 26.

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2009)