Taipei zoo welcomes red panda pair
In this June 6 photo released by Taipei City Zoo, a male red panda, part of a pair received from China, looks up in an enclosure at the Taipei City Zoo in Taiwan. Taipei City Zoo via AP
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A zoo in Taiwan’s capital received a pair of endangered red pandas from China on Saturday, in the first exchange of animals in more than a decade as tensions between the two sides run high.
The pandas, a 3-year-old male and a 2-year-old female, will be in quarantine for a month and then acclimated to their new home in the Taipei Zoo before they are unveiled to the public.
The two pandas have yet to be named. While the male panda immediately began to explore his new home and ate, the female remained cautious and preferred to observe, the Taipei Zoo said.
Taipei last received red pandas from a zoo in China’s Fujian province in 2014, according to the Taipei Times. The animals are endemic to China, as well as Nepal, Laos and Myanmar, among others.
Taipei will send white-handed gibbons to Shanghai as part of the exchange, the Taipei Times said.


