Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived in 2000, about one year after Hsing-Hsing was euthanized due to kidney disease and eight years after Ling Ling’s passing from heart failure.
The two new pandas stayed for a decade under the first formal pact, then remained under two consecutive five-year agreements.
Mei Xiang gave birth in August 2020, at an age when scientists had thought she would no longer be able to have a baby.
Zoos that host pandas outside of China usually agree to send cubs back before they turn 4, and to send adults back when they are elderly — Mei Xiang is 25 and Tian Tian 26.
“I don’t want to have a panda pass away outside of China.”
Persons:
Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, Hsing, Ling Ling’s, Xiao Qi Ji, ”, Melissa Songer, “
Locations:
China, Washington