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Taiwan's 1st panda cub greeted by thousands

Shanghai Daily, January 7, 2014

• The exhibition center at Taipei Zoo was swamped with fans — many of them parents with their children — keen to see the six-month-old cub. [Xinhua photo]

  
  
  

  The first giant panda cub born in Taiwan made her much-anticipated public debut yesterday, entertaining thousands of fans who flocked to her enclosure.

  Yuan Zai clambered around a wooden structure inside the enclosure while mother Yuan Yuan munched bamboo. The cub captivated the crowds for 40 minutes before falling asleep.

  "Her muscles are getting stronger and stronger. It is no problem for her to crawl up and down the structure," said a Taipei Zoo spokesman.

  "But whenever her activity slows down, then she is telling you that she needs a nap."

  The exhibition center at Taipei Zoo was swamped with fans — many of them parents with their children — keen to see the six-month-old cub.

  Panda-mania swept Taiwan after Yuan Zai was delivered on July 6 following a series of artificial insemination sessions because her parents — Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan — failed to conceive naturally.

  Weighing 180 grams at birth, she is now 14 kilograms.

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