Welcome home! UK’s only giant pandas arrive at sanctuary in China after 5,000 mile journey from Edinburgh Zoo where they had been for 12 years

By William On Dec 5, 2023

Britain's only pair of giant pandas have been photographed at their new home at a reserve in China after a 5,000-mile journey.

Giant pandas Yang Guang (Sunshine) and Tian Tian (Baby) had been at Edinburgh Zoo for 12 years until they traveled to China yesterday.

They were photographed sitting at a table enjoying a meal with two other pandas at their new home in China.

The pandas were a popular attraction at Edinburgh Zoo and will be sorely missed by regulars.

The pair boarded the plane to Beijing at 1.45pm yesterday alongside boxes of foliage after the end of the 10-year agreement, which has been extended by two years, between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the China Wildlife Conservation Society.

Giant pandas Yang Guang (Sunshine) and Tian Tian (Baby) have been at Edinburgh Zoo for 12 years

The duo boarded a 1.45pm flight to Beijing yesterday with boxes of leaves following the 10-year agreement.

The UK's only giant panda has been photographed sitting around a table having a meal in her enclosure at Edinburgh Zoo

Some Edinburgh Zoo fans were left heartbroken after panda cameras they caught over the years showed nothing but an empty enclosure.

Someone posted a haunting photo on X, formerly Twitter, of a lone zookeeper cleaning out Yang Guang and Tian Tian's former home.

He wrote: “Safe travel, sad to see the keepers on the panda cam cleaning their bamboo pens for the last time this morning.

“You must be very emotional for them, thank you for all the hard work you put into taking care of them.”

RZSS head of marketing, Lisa Robshaw, said it was very strange to watch the live broadcast on BBC Breakfast, and that she would miss the web traffic “almost like a panda”.

Another said: “I will miss these two and the panda cam made me happy watching them.”

While a fourth said: “He was a big fan of panda cameras.” Yuan Guang and Tian Tian's safe house.

Giant panda Yang Guang at Edinburgh Zoo before departing on a 5,000-mile journey to his new home in China

People watch as giant pandas Yang Guang and Tian Tian are loaded onto China Southern's cargo plane

Others commented under a post on Edinburgh Zoo's Facebook page about the panda's last day at the zoo.

Giant Panda: Fast Facts

– 99% of the giant panda's diet consists of different types of bamboo

– They are largely solitary but communicate through calls and scent marks and occasionally meet outside the mating season

Female pandas can only become pregnant for two to three days a year

An adult panda is approximately 900 times larger than a newborn cub (it is the size of a stick of butter).

Source: Edinburgh Zoo

One social media user said what they will miss about seeing them on cameras.

“Sad day and safe and happy trip, we will miss seeing you on webcam eating bamboo late at night xxx,” they wrote.

Another had visited the zoo to say their final goodbyes and told how they were “shed in tears” when they left.

They wrote before the pandas departed, saying: “Thank you so much for hosting them over the past 12 years. It was so wonderful to see the majestic panda in the flesh and learn so much about them.”

“Good luck to the goalkeepers tomorrow and until they leave for China. Best wishes to Yang and Tian in their new home in China. My husband and I wish them a long and happy life.”

“Thank you for the wonderful memories/pictures and footage that are so appreciated.

“They will be glued to the cameras until they turn off.”

Visitors bid farewell to the mammals on Thursday, and the zoo then began preparations for their return to the China Wildlife Conservation Society's base in Chengdu.

Founded in 1987, the base is a world-class research facility, conservation education center, and international educational tourism destination, and has twice won the Global 500 Honors for Environmental Achievement, the United Nations' highest environmental award.

The flight lasted 13 hours and involved a guard and a vet from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), a Chinese guard and an airline official sat behind the pilot and co-pilot, while the rest of the seats were taken out of the specially chartered China Southern plane. airplane

Panda Cam fans took to Facebook and X to say how much they missed seeing the pandas, with one revealing how they were in tears after visiting the zoo this week to say goodbye.

The base covers more than three square kilometers, and includes many luxury panda “villas” located in the mountains and forests, allowing the bears to live together in the area with countless trees, streams and bamboo plants, as well as more than 700 species of plants. And animals.

To transport the pandas to their new home, Edinburgh Zoo blacksmith Rab Clarke built two custom metal boxes with sliding locking doors, urine trays and removable screens so keepers could check on them during the journey to Sichuan.

The boxes are 190cm long, 146cm high and 127cm wide, which is what the bears have become accustomed to in the past few weeks.

The panda has been in quarantine since the beginning of November, and will also spend some time in quarantine upon its arrival in China to comply with animal health regulations.

The two bears undergo regular veterinary examinations, including taking blood and stool samples, to ensure they are healthy and not transmitting any disease to China.

The China Wildlife Conservation Society's Chengdu base, founded in 1987, claims to be a “world-class research facility and conservation education centre.”

A low-bed transport truck was hired to transport the pandas from the zoo to Edinburgh Airport.

'Tian Tian may not have swiped right on Tinder': How pandas failed to mate despite a decade of trying

Yang Guang and Tian Tian looked exactly the same when they arrived in Edinburgh from China in 2011.

But for more than a decade the pair failed to peck and produce the offspring that zoologists and veterinarians had so hoped for when they arrived in Scotland.

Efforts to breed them naturally have not borne fruit, and since 2013, the zoo has tried artificial insemination about eight times.

The last attempt was in 2021, after which the giant panda breeding program was halted.

David Field, chief executive of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), even joked that the pair would have had difficulty matching on Tinder, saying that “Tian Tian might not have swiped right”, such was the case with their reluctance About being together. .

Experts say it is very difficult to know if a panda is pregnant, because fetuses do not grow much in the womb.

A panda's stomach has a lot of complex parts and intestines full of food which can make it difficult for veterinarians to see what they are looking at.

Pandas usually wake up late, so staff at the zoo have been gradually moving forward their wake-up time so they get used to waking up early.

The exact time has been kept secret to reduce the chance of disruption from crowds of well-wishers or protest groups, with many feeling the zoo should not have taken the pandas in the first place.

The panda boxes were loaded by forklift into Suite 12 next to Edinburgh Airport's terminal.

The 13-hour flight will include a ranger and vet from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), a Chinese ranger and an airline official sitting behind the pilot and co-pilot, while the rest of the seats have been taken out from specially chartered China. South plane.

The pandas will undergo health checks, food and water during the flight, but the humans on board will have to heat up their meals in the on-board microwave because there will be no cabin crew.

David Field, chief executive of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said it was “extremely disappointing” not to receive the panda cub.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Field said: “It is very disappointing.” Little panda is just beautiful. They're adorable, they're adorable, they're glorious.

“They are one of the great ambassadors for people who fall in love with nature.

“I think the biggest disappointment was for the Tian Tian, because that mothering cycle is really important to them as part of their natural behavioral repertoire — everything from all the hormonal cycles to nest building to rearing.

“Sometimes animals just can't get along. Genetically, they seemed to be a very good match but behaviorally, if it had been Tinder, Tian Tian probably wouldn't have been able to swipe properly if she had the choice.

“It's very symbolic, it's iconic in the field of environmental conservation, and it makes people smile by completely abandoning it.”

Edinburgh Zoo is set to replace its pandas with another 'exciting' species, which has yet to be revealed.

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