Fans bid farewell to Tokyo pandas before return to China

TOKYO: Thousands of fans on Saturday bid farewell to two pandas at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo before they are to return to China.

Crowds of adoring fans came out to see off Ri Ri and Shin Shin, two giant pandas living in a Tokyo zoo. China sends pandas to zoos abroad but maintains ownership over the animals and any cubs they produce.

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Over 2,000 people lined up outside of the zoo hours before the pair’s final appearance.

What do we know about the two pandas?

Pandas Ri Ri and Shin Shin are the parents of Xiang Xiang, who was born in Tokyo in 2017 and returned to China last year. They also gave birth to twins in 2021.

After the two-hour-long wait, visitors were only given a few minutes to see the animals inside their enclosures.

The two pandas arrived at the zoo in 2011. They are both 19 years old.

The zoo had leased the pair until 2026, but has agreed to return them to China so that they may be treated for high blood pressure.

Pandas tend to live to 15-20 years of age in the wild and can have lifespans of up to 25-35 in captivity.
Pandas vulnerable to extinction

China sends pandas to zoos abroad but maintains ownership over the animals and any cubs they produce, a practice often referred to as “panda diplomacy.”

Pandas are native to parts of central China, but their range has been severely reduced in recent centuries. Only around 1,800 pandas live in the wild and another 500 are in zoos or reserves.

The animals reproduce rarely in the wild and must eat bamboo nearly constantly to maintain their body weight.

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The giant panda is listed as “vulnerable” to extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).