RSSNewsletterSiteMapFeedback

Home · Weather · Forum · Learning Chinese · Jobs · Shopping
Search This Site
China | International | Business | Government | Environment | Olympics/Sports | Travel/Living in China | Culture/Entertainment | Books & Magazines | Health
Home / International / International -- Cultural Sidelines Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read
Japan-born panda twins to return to China
Adjust font size:

Two male pandas born in Japan four years ago by leased parents from China will become the first overseas-born twin pandas ever to come back to China next week.

 

Ryuhin and Shuhin are due to leave Osaka, Japan at 3:30 AM (Beijing time) on October 27, stay in Beijing overnight and arrive at Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, the following day, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding announced on Wednesday.

 

Both Ryuhin, weighing 96.4 kilograms, and Shuhin, at 102.4 kilograms, were healthy, said Huang Xiangming, curator of the Animal Management Department with the base.

 

A group of Chinese experts and government officials will leave for Japan on Monday to oversee the transfer and ensure the travel conditions are appropriate.

 

A farewell ceremony will be held in Japan before their departure, and ten members of the public, selected from 300 candidates, will accompany them.

 

The pandas would be quarantined in a newly-built house at the base for two to three months, when they would adapt to the new environment before being shown to visitors, said Huang.

 

The pair were born on September 8, 2003, to Yong Ming and Mei Mei, which the research base leased to the Adventure World Park Zoo in western Japan's Wakayama prefecture in 1994 and 2000 respectively under a Sino-Japanese cooperation program on giant panda breeding.

 

They are the first pair of captive twin cubs raised by a mother panda instead of by humans, according to the research base.

 

Female pandas giving birth to twins tend to feed the stronger one and abandon the other, but Mei Mei nurtured both, said Huang.

 

Mei Mei has given birth to nine cubs in Japan and seven survived, making their family the largest abroad.

 

China sent 24 giant pandas to nine countries as gifts between 1957 to 1982 and five of their offspring are still alive.

 

The government stopped the program in 1985 and launched long-term cooperation on giant panda breeding with Japan, the United States and Spain in 1994, since when, 25 pandas have been leased to the countries.

 

According to cooperation agreement, cubs born overseas by pandas on loan belong to China and should be returned to China after they become sexually mature or the cooperation ends. The first overseas-born panda Hua Mei came to China from the United States in 2004.

 

Giant pandas are one of the most endangered species in the world. There are only 1,590 giant pandas living in the wild, most of them in southwest China's mountainous regions.

 

By the end of 2006, about 210 giant pandas lived in captivity in China.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2007)

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Read
Comment
Username   Password   Anonymous
 


China Archives
Related >>
- Panda bachelor returns to homeland seeking bride
- Zhang Hemin: 'father' of pandas
- Spain holds welcoming ceremony for pandas
- China Selects Pair of Pandas to Live in Australia
Most Viewed >>
-Chinese compatriots withdraw from Chad
-Gabon's Jean Ping elected as AU Commission chief
-Baghdad market blasts kill 72
-World Bank chief to assess floods in Zambia
-Kenya's rivals agree to end deadly violence
> Korean Nuclear Talks
> Reconstruction of Iraq
> Middle East Peace Process
> Iran Nuclear Issue
> 6th SCO Summit Meeting
Links
- China Development Gateway
- Foreign Ministry
- Network of East Asian Think-Tanks
- China-EU Association
- China-Africa Business Council
- China Foreign Affairs University
- University of International Relations
- Institute of World Economics & Politics
- Institute of Russian, East European & Central Asian Studies
- Institute of West Asian & African Studies
- Institute of Latin American Studies
- Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies
- Institute of Japanese Studies
SiteMap | About Us | RSS | Newsletter | Feedback

Copyright © China.org.cn. All Rights Reserved E-mail: webmaster@china.org.cn Tel: 86-10-88828000 京ICP证 040089号