Caught on camera: The amazing moment a giant panda gives birth in a Chinese breeding centre

By Helen Lawson


This video captures the crucial moment where a giant panda safely delivers her fourth child in the early hours of this morning at a Chinese breeding base.

Yuan Yuan is shown being observed in her cage by staff at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base in Sichuan Province before standing on all fours to deliver her cub.

As the cub drops to the floor, its loving mother turns to lick her newborn's pink fur and picks it up in her mouth before turning away from onlookers for some private bonding time.

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Staff at the centre took the newborn panda to an incubator to carry out some health checks

The cub's head can be seen as Yuan Yuan delivers her fourth baby

Thrilled staff at the breeding centre look on as mother and baby share a cuddle, before wrapping the cub in a blanket to take to an incubator for an examination.

Baby pandas are born blind and toothless, and the newborn is seen to be quite the wriggler as it adjusts to life outside the comfort of the womb.

The gender of the cub, born at 5.11am, will not be known for another two months and it will develop its distinctive fur colouring in roughly a month's time.


Yuan Yuan is shown before observed by staff before the cub's birth

As labour reaches its climax, Yuan Yuan stands up on all fours for the final push

The baby panda is Yuan Yuan's fourth child - her last pregnancy resulted in a set of twins in 2010.

Staff at the centre will be especially pleased with this latest birth as the cub was conceived naturally - encouraging news for scientists working to boost the numbers of the giant panda, an endangered species.


The newborn wriggles around its incubator as staff try to keep it still so they can perform some checks


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It's spray time! Giant panda enjoys another cooling shower on a baking hot day

By Simon Tomlinson


Fun in the sun: Giant panda Hua Ao lies on his back as he is sprayed with a hose in his enclosure at Yantai Zoo yesterday

At first, he wasn't so sure.

But Hua Ao the giant panda now seems to appreciate the benefits of a good hosing down on a baking hot day.

Last week, Hua Ao found the experience a little too bracing, raising his paw to block the stream of water and at one point losing his footing as he fought to avoid the firing line.


Spray time: The playful appears more relaxed with the water than he did a week ago when he tried fending it off with his paws

Drenched: Hua Ao appeared far more attracted by the water this time around, unlike last week

The panda also tried to hide behind a wooden platform, peeking out to see what's coming his way next.

But yesterday, the playful bear appeared to be having a lot more fun as temperatures at Yantai Zoo in eastern China reached a sweltering 32.3C.

He was pictured this time swinging in and out of the water on the same platform and bounding across the grass as the spray came towards him. His mate, Qing Feng, also joined in the action.


Hose pose: Hua Ao waves to the cameras as his keepers give him a good spraying down

Cooling off: Hua Ao took advantage of his cold shower as temperatures topped 32C at the zoo yesterday

Giant pandas are solitary bears when in the wild, usually preferring their own company when foraging in Chinese bamboo forests.

They are an endangered species, with less than 2,000 thought to be left roaming free in the cool forests that are their natural habitat.

They mostly eat bamboo, but in captivity are also enjoy being fed honey, eggs, fish, yams, leaves, oranges, bananas and other special treats.


Hosing off: Last week, Hua Ao backed off and raises his paws when he was given his cooling soak


Backing away: The giant panda turns its head away as keepers try and keep the animal cool it soaring temperatures



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Playing it cool: Giant panda gets a soaking in sweltering temperatures

-Hua Ao got defensive as his keepers at a Chinese zoo try and cool him down in 30c heat
-The rare bears usually live in cool forests and have thick fur so need help to stop over-heating

By Lawrence Conway


Feeling the heat: Male giant panda Hua Ao being sprayed down with in water to help cool down at Yantai Zoo in China

When it's a hot, sunny and you are really feeling the heat there is nothing better than a cooling shower.

But this giant panda at Yantai Zoo in eastern China seems to be finding attempts to cool him down a little too bracing.

Keepers at the zoo decided to spray down giant male panda Hua Ao with a hose as temperatures in the town hit 30c.

Hosing off: Hua Ao backs off and raises his paws as keepers give him a cooling soak in his enclosure

But Hua Ao found their attempts a little too direct, raising his paws to block the cool water and backing away.

At one point the giant panda, with its famous black and white fur, lost its footing as it attempted to get out of the firing line.

The gorgeous bear can be seen falling into a barrel roll as it decides staying dry is better than cooling down.

The panda also takes to a wooden platform, peeking out from behind a post to see what's coming his way next.


Hose: Hua Ao takes a tumble as he attempts to escape his keepers attempts to cool him down


Backing away: The giant panda turns its head away as keepers try and keep the animal cool it soaring temperatures

Wary: The giant panda know's he needs to cool down, but he'd rather take it at his own pace and tries to use a wooden pole to deflect a cooling water hose

Giant pandas are solitary bears when in the wild, usually preferring their own company when foraging in Chinese bamboo forests.

They are an endangered species, with less than 2,000 thought to be left roaming free in the cool forests that are their natural habitat.

They mostly eat bamboo, but in captivity are also enjoy being fed honey, eggs, fish, yams, leaves, oranges, bananas and other special treats.


Look: Giant panda Hua Ao flashes his big black fur ringed eyes to see where the next jet of water is coming from


Shake a leg: Giant panda Hua Ao gets a soaking at Yantai Zoo



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Help, I've already got two black eyes! Poor little panda who got stuck up a tree

By Amy Oliver


Look! No paws: This giant panda cub was snapped showing off its gymnastic skills at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China


They spend most of their day eating bamboo and snoozing.

But as this young panda proves, there's still plenty of time for a spot of gymnastics despite the busy schedule.

Photographer Mitsuaki Iwago was able to capture the moment the bear hung upside down from a tree in a gymnastics display worthy of Olympic gold.

It then proceeded to stick its tongue out at stunned onlookers who were enjoying a day out at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China.

However, the cub then seemed to struggle to get itself upright after wedging its legs between the branches.


Mr Iwago, 61, said: 'I was just visiting the panda enclosure because they are beautiful animals and I wanted to take some photos.

'The young cub wouldn't take its eyes off me, it was fascinated. Suddenly it went over to the tree and managed to flip upside down.

'It was looking at me the whole time and I got the feeling it was showing for the camera, as if saying "look what I can do."

'I think it was also having a joke because it stuck its tongue out at me, as if blowing a raspberry.

Tree hugger: The cheeky bear put on quite a show for stunned onlookers while enjoying itself at the nature reserve before going off to eat some more bamboo

'I was so pleased with the photos and afterwards I thanked the panda for giving me such a great show.'

Mr Iwago from Tokyo, Japan, added: 'I thought it was going to be just another visit to the zoo but I ended up with something very special.'

There are only around 1,300 pandas living today. 150 giant pandas reside at the Wolong reserve, which covers around 200,000 hectares in the Qionglai Mountains region.

The average giant panda eats as much as 20 to 30lbs of bamboo a day and an adult male can grow up to 6ft long. They can weigh up to 25 stone (350lbs).



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It sure beats bamboo: Pandas celebrate first Christmas at Edinburgh Zoo with extra helpings of cake

-Thousands have already flocked to see Tian Tian and Yang Guang since they made their debut last week

By Kerry Mcqueeney


The taste of Christmas: Tian Tian tucks in to her special panda cake in her enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo


As much of the population reaches for the indigestion remedies after gorging on their Christmas dinner, it would seem they were not alone in the over-indulgence stakes today.

The UK's only pair of giant pandas celebrated their first Christmas in Scotland - by devouring extra helpings of panda cake.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang - or Sunshine and Sweetie - have been getting used to their new home in Edinburgh Zoo since arriving from China on December 4.

Extra helping: Tian Tian, one of the UK's only pair of giant pandas, celebrated her first Christmas in Scotland


Thousands have flocked to see the eight-year-olds since they went on display to the public for the first time last week.

On Christmas morning, zoo bosses dished out an extra portion of the special panda cake made from soya, corn, rice, egg and oil.

Yang Guang goes through 55kg of bamboo daily and Tian Tian around 30kg in total.
They get four deliveries of fresh bamboo every day while also munching on carrots and panda cake as part of their specially-tailored balanced diet.

I could get used to this: Tian Tian (pictured) and Yang Guang - or Sunshine and
Sweetie - have been settling to into their new home since arriving in Edinburgh on December 4


The zoo will be their home for the next 10 years and it is hoped that the breeding pair, the first pandas in the UK for 17 years, will produce cubs during their stay.

The animals' arrival from Ya'an reserve in Chengdu, China, is the result of five years of work to bring them to Scotland.

Edinburgh Zoo is now one of only 13 zoos in the world with pandas.


Sleeping it off: The panda looks exhausted after her Christmas feast


Taking it easy: Tian Tian stretches after gorging on her festive treats

Bear-obics: On second thought, some physical activity might aid digestion


The pair arrived from China in a 777 aircraft, nicknamed the 'FedEx Panda Express', transported in sepcially-designed crates with perspex sides.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang then made the 15-minute journey from the aiport to the zoo in a lorry.

Staff from the FedEx Express said the pandas' in-flight meals included bamboo, apples, carrots, mineral water - and a special panda cake.


Still peckish? Yang Guang starts on the bamboo after demolishing the panda cakes


Tourist attraction: Keeper Sharon Hatton stands in front of Yang Guang. Thousands have flocked to see the eight-year-old pandas since they made their debut last week


Chewing the fat: Yang Guang appears to be thinking thing over as he cleans his teeth with a bamboo shoot




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Do I want a cuddle? Actually I'd prefer a bamboo takeaway! Zoo's new pandas appear more interested in their surroundings than one another

By Paul Harris


Getting to know each other: Male Yang Guang, left, gazes longingly at Tian Tain from his enclosure in Edinburgh Zoo


Through a wire mesh grille they gazed into each other’s big, black eyes.

On one side was Yang Guang, 20 stone of giant panda, and the other, his intended, Tian Tian.

If they progress from lingering looks to something more, it is hoped that these two could be the parents of the first natural-born panda cub on British soil.

Munch: Yang Guang enjoys a bamboo snack as he gets used to his new surrounding


Alas, yesterday wasn’t the magic moment, and not just because of the 12ft wall between them.

There was too much else to do in their new home at Edinburgh Zoo. To wit: eat, sleep, eat, eat, sleep. Eat some more, loll around a bit; then sleep.

And so, this much heralded public encounter between two Very Important Pandas will not go into the history books as the day romance blossomed in the chill air of Scotland, where they are expected to live for the next ten years. The brutal truth was that Tian Tian simply took one look at her proposed suitor and wandered off.

This was the first photocall for the pandas since their grand arrival last week to a bagpipe welcome after a 5,000-mile flight from China, which is loaning them to Britain.


New attraction: A young boy watches Yang Guang explore the outside enclosure which will be his home for 10 years

Unfamiliar surroundings: But Yang Guang's new home looks surprisingly similar to his old one in China


It was also the closest they have come to members of the public in advance of a grand unveiling scheduled for Friday.

The arranged marriage between these two fine specimens of Ailuropoda melanoleuca is in its early stages yet.

If romance is truly in the air, it will not manifest itself until February.

Tian Tian will be on heat during this period for only around two days so panda keeper Alison Maclean and zoo staff will have to monitor the pair even more intensively than at present.


Partner: Zookeepers hope that Tian Tian, pictured, can be persuaded to mate with Yang Guang

Nervous: So far Tian Tian has been less adventurous than her male counterpart, say her handlers


Their entire lives are recorded on 24-hour panda-cams, which are linked to Alison’s home so she can watch while off duty. (Her husband is getting a bit fed up with it already, she told me yesterday).

Pandas are constantly in danger of extinction.

Some estimates suggest there are fewer than 1,500 left in the wild.

So come spring, all eyes will be on Tian Tian and Yang Guang.

They will have just 48 hours to save the panda world.


It’s a tough assignment, but someone has to do it. Now, where’s the rest of that bamboo?


Relaxed: Yang Guang is already at home in his new environment...


...but he is keen to get more acquainted with Tian Tian when she is in heat


Popular: The pandas, which mark a major diplomatic operation, are expected to be a bid draw at Edinburgh Zoo





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Two very pampered celebrities: They'll get through £70,000 of bamboo a year and live in luxury suites costing £275,000 a year to rent

-Arrival of pair hailed as 'significant chapter' in relationship between China and the UK
-The pair are first giant pandas to arrive in Britain for nearly 20 years
-They will live at Edinburgh Zoo for at least a decade
-Deputy PM Nick Clegg says he is 'delighted' by their arrival

By John Naish


The first giant pandas to arrive in Britain for 17 years touched down at Edinburgh Zoo yesterday after an 11-hour flight from China on a specially-chartered jet. Now, as Sunshine and Sweetie settle into their luxury enclosure and eager fans clamour to see them, hopes are high they could produce the first ever panda cub born on British soil. Here, JOHN NAISH looks at what lies in store for these very special creatures . . .

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Safe landing: Chinese panda Yang Guang arrives at Edinburgh Airport yesterday afternoon on a specially chartered flight


A pair of international celebrities completed their much-anticipated move to Edinburgh last night, where they are now occupying £275,000 suites and having their organic food flown in from the Continent.

They were met on Scottish soil by photographers, dignitaries and crowds of flag-waving locals clamouring for a glimpse of them. Earlier this week, a website selling tickets to see the pair crashed due to the demand.

But, in a departure from the usual celebrity script, the new arrivals are a pair of giant pandas.


Peering out: The panda named Tian Tian is unloaded from a plane at Edinburgh Airport. The pair are the first giant pandas to arrive in the UK for more than 17 years

Sunshine, left, and Sweetie, right, settle in at Edinburgh Zoo. They arrived at the zoo from a conservation centre in Sichuan, China, on a private Boeing 777F flight dubbed the ‘FedEx Panda Express’


Yesterday, female Tian Tian (meaning Sweetie) and male Yang Guang (Sunshine) arrived in Edinburgh Zoo from a conservation centre in Sichuan, China, on a private Boeing 777F flight dubbed the ‘FedEx Panda Express’, along with a vet and two animal handlers.

They are on loan from China for the next ten years. Bagpipes played as the bears were carried carefully from the aircraft in individual crates, each labelled ‘one panda’ and taken to Edinburgh Zoo.

Tian Tian and Yang Guang have been put in enclosures designed by animal psychologists, which come complete with dens, private pools, a viewing platform and a room where the pandas will be given health check-ups.


The new arrivals are unloaded from their Panda Express plane following an 11-hour journey from China


New home: Yang Guang is unloaded from the freight aircraft by two FedEx staff members

Welcome: People waited with anticipation to receive Tian Tian and and Yang Guang as their plane touched down


The enclosure also has a specially built ‘love tunnel’ where the two can meet if they are feeling amorous, and a nursery for any offspring. Zoo bosses believe the pandas will attract more than a million extra visitors, and a baby panda would see numbers boom even further - although any cubs would be the property of China.

Already there is eager adulation from the panda-mad public. Earlier this week, the zoo’s ticket website was unable to cope with the ‘sheer influx’ of people trying to book tickets and crashed.

But then this pair are rare treasures: these are the first pandas in the UK for 17 years, since London Zoo hosted Bao Bao and Ming Ming in the early Nineties.

And the bears will need to be popular in order to fund their keep. The zoo is paying the Chinese around £636,000 a year for the privilege of having them. It also needs to buy them £70,000 worth of bamboo a year.

The bears will now have a fortnight to settle in before being put on show to the public. Although they have come as a pair, they will have separate rooms as solitary pandas only meet to mate once a year.

Excited: A youngster wore a panda hat and joined hundreds of other well-wishers to catch a first sighting of the giant bears at the airport


Their new living quarters are five-star. The animals love to clamber, so each has a climbing frame that will enable them to see each other over the tops of their enclosures.

The animal psychologists also designed the accommodation to simulate their natural habitat. Small caves are intended as outdoor bedrooms. There are his ’n’ hers ponds and shaped rocks that act like panda-recliners, so they can lie back to chew on their bamboo.

Alison Maclean, the pandas’ head-keeper, is delighted with the enclosure’s design. ‘It’s perfect,’ she says. ‘The visitors have huge viewing panels, both looking into the interior and exterior of the enclosures. It’s virtually soundproof, so the pandas won’t get disturbed.’

Pandas spend much of their time munching - as much as 14 hours a day chewing bamboo. Each year, they will eat up to 18,000kg (over 39,000lb) of the stuff - around 20 three-metre stems a day. This is no ordinary bamboo, either. Most of it will be imported from a specialist organic grower on a plantation just outside Amsterdam.

After all, you don’t want to let pandas get hungry. They can get very bearish. In 2009, for example, a giant panda killed eight sheep in a village near a nature reserve in Leshan in China.


First sight: Chinese panda Yang Guang at Edinburgh Airport


Arrival: Giant pandas Tian Tian (Sweetie) and Yang Guang (Sunshine) arrive at Edinburgh Airport on the FedEx Panda Express


Touch down: The FedEx Panda Express lands at Edinburgh Airport

In captivity, they have been known to maul humans. Even when well-fed, pandas are not completely herbivore. Around one per cent of their diet is carnivore — popular snacks are rats, mice and insects.

The one mod-con the pandas should not need is climate control. The weather in Edinburgh is very similar to that of their native Sichuan Province.

With all the right conditions, Edinburgh’s zoo keepers hope that the pampered pandas will be in the mood for love.

The conservation purpose of their decade-long stay is to produce offspring that can be returned to the wild.

Ten years is a significant proportion of a captive panda’s lifespan: they are normally expected to live for 30 years. Both are now eight.

Hopes are high that their stay will prove fruitful: Tian Tian and Yang Guang have both successfully mated before, but with other partners. While pandas are notoriously difficult to mate in captivity, Tian Tian and Yang Guang are said to stand a better chance than most of producing young. The ‘boisterous’ male, Yang Guang, is said to be better endowed than the average panda. He has already sired a string of cubs in the Ya’an reserve in China, where both pandas were born and raised.

And although Tian Tian, has been described as ‘a very quiet and nervous character’, she has given birth to two cubs.


Through the keyhole: Yang Guang is seen eating bamboo branches through a whole of the FedEx container transporting the pair to Edinburgh


Nervous flyer? Yang Guang is fed with apples in the minutes before being loaded onto the plane to Scotland


Heavy load: Giant panda Yang Guang is hauled onto the plane at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, ready for his trip to Scotland

Special delivery: The FedEx Panda Express has special livery for the flight


Hugh Roberts, chief executive of the Scottish zoological society, said he was ‘very confident’ the pandas would become the first in Britain to breed naturally. ‘They both know what to do and that’s a start,’ he said. ‘I don’t think Yang Guang’s sexual prowess is in doubt.’

Nevertheless, the last British attempt ended in an acrimonious divorce: London Zoo’s Bao Bao and Ming Ming fought savagely and had to be separated. Bao Bao was sent to Berlin Zoo in 1993 and Ming Ming returned to China in 1994.

Their predecessors had fared little better. In 1974, the Conservative prime minister, Edward Heath, attempted to lighten the gloom of a Britain struck by economic crisis by bringing over Chia-Chia and Ching-Ching, in what was considered a coup of ‘panda diplomacy’ with the Communist regime.

But although the pair were loved by visitors to London Zoo, they didn’t seem to love each other, and were cubless to the end.

Loaded up: Tian Tian sat peacefully in a cage, before being taken to the airport


Pandas’ problems are exacerbated by the female’s very short period of fertility.
Jennifer Butler, a spokeswoman for Edinburgh zoo, says: ‘They only have a period of three days a year when the female is receptive. Within this, there is only a window of between 24 and 48 hours when she is fertile.’

Worse still, male pandas can prove lackadaisical. In 2007, keepers at Northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai Zoo resorted to sitting a male called Chuang Chuang in front of a TV showing raunchy videos of bears mating in an attempt to spark his interest. The chief veterinarian, Kanika Limtrakul, was disappointed to admit ‘Chuang Chuang seemed indifferent’ to the films.

If Edinburgh does hit the panda cub jackpot, then it would prove a welcome boost to conservation efforts: there are as few as 1,600 giant pandas in central China.


Farewell party: A Chinese woman sees off the pandas, who will have an extended stay in Edinburgh

Fragile cargo: The bears are loaded into special crates before boarding a plane heading for Edinburgh


Not everyone is a supporter, however. Chris Packham, the BBC wildlife presenter, has said pandas should be allowed to die out and the money spent on conserving them should go on other species. His words outraged the Chinese and threatened the loan deal for Tian Tian and Yang Guang.

But if a rare cub is produced, Edinburgh can expect an unprecedented frenzy because there is something about these creatures that pulls the heart strings. For example, a video on YouTube entitled Baby Panda Sneezing has been viewed 190 million times.

If such an adorable creature were to be born in Edinburgh, the visitor bonus to the nation would certainly not be worth sneezing at.




Bring me Sunshine: Giant pandas Sweetie and Sunshine arrived in Scotland after a 5,000-mile journey from China


Bulking up: Sunshine pictured tucking into some bamboo in his enclosure before embarking on his journey


Going the distance: Sweetie and her mate Sunshine will be the first pandas to live in the UK for 20 years



source:dailymail