Schönbrunn Zoo Says Goodbye to Beloved Pandas

Schönbrunn Zoo Says Goodbye to Beloved Pandas

One of the pair at Vienna Airport on Friday. Photo: Daniel Zupanc

 

Vienna’s Schönbrunn Zoo bid farewell to a beloved pair of giant pandas on Friday as they left to spend their remaining years in China. A pair of younger pandas will soon move in to take their place, the zoo announced.

Yang Yang and Yuan Yuan, both born in captivity, are now 24 and 25 years old, respectively. According to the WWF, the average lifespan of a panda in the wild is 14 to 20 years, though they can live up to 30 years in captivity.

Yang Yang had five cubs with her previous partner, Long Hui, who died in 2016. That same year, Yang Yang became a global sensation when she gave birth to and raised twins without any human intervention – the first time this had ever happened for a panda in captivity.

Yuan Yuan has been Yang Yang’s companion since 2019. The two will now spend the rest of their lives in a facility in China that specialises in caring for elderly pandas.

The pair boarded a transport plane to China on Friday evening, stocked with plenty of typical panda provisions: bamboo, sweet potatoes, carrots, bamboo bread, and water. According to the zoo, the team had constant access to the pandas throughout the ten-hour flight. The animals were accompanied by their long-time keeper, Renate Haider, and He Changgui, an employee of the panda sanctuary, who had spent a week at Schönbrunn getting to know them.

“Yang Yang and Yuan Yuan spent the journey in true panda fashion – eating and sleeping. I will now stay in China for almost two weeks to gradually transfer their care to my Chinese colleagues,” Haider said.

The research collaboration between Schönbrunn Zoo and its Chinese conservation partner, the China Wildlife Conservation Association, has been extended for a further ten years to continue supporting the protection and conservation of giant pandas and their habitat.

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