Giant panda celebrates 20th birthday in Taiwan: ‘Funny and cute’

Visitors to Taiwan have flocked to the Taipei Zoo to help celebrate a giant panda’s birthday, politics aside.

The panda, Yuanyaun, has turned 20 years old.

She first arrived at the zoo in 2008 from China, according to the Associated Press.

The gardeners gave the female panda a birthday cake in the shape of the number 20, with various food decorations.

Danielle Shu, a 20-year-old Brazilian student in Taiwan, said she found the online panda clips a pleasant distraction.

“I find it very funny and cute,” Shu said, as reported by the AP.

Yuanyuan arrived at the zoo with her partner, Tuantuan, who died at the age of 18 in 2022.

The panda couple had two female cubs, Yuanzai and Yuanbao, now 11 and 4 years old, and both still live at the zoo.

The lifespan of pandas in the wild is about 15 to 20 years — and about 30 years for those in human care, according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

There are only 1,864 giant pandas living in their native habitat, while another 600 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world, according to the zoo.

Yuanyuan and Tuantuan arrived during a somewhat quiet time between China and Taiwan, the AP said.

Taiwan began its annual Han Kuang war games, designed to simulate actual combat, as tensions simmer with China, which views Taiwan as its sovereign territory, Reuters reported last month.

Ambassador Barbara K. Bodine, a professor of diplomacy and director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, said the pandas are an expression of goodwill from the Chinese government, as reflected by the donation. of these animals, according to Georgetown University.

“It is quite difficult for a government to speak directly to the public of another country, especially if it wants to influence public perceptions of itself. Pandas are a pretty effective means of achieving that, given how much they appeal to animal lovers,” Bodine told Georgetown in an interview in May.

Two pandas arrived at the San Diego Zoo in August, marking the first time pandas have been shipped to the US in 21 years.

And the National Zoo in Washington announced in May that China will send two new giant pandas to Washington, months after returning three pandas.

Beijing presented two giant pandas as gifts to the US in 1972 after President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to the country.

China’s ambassador to the United States Xie Feng told Reuters that the new panda cooperation agreement was “a very good sign” for US-China relations.

The two pandas are expected to arrive at the end of the year.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.