MADRID (Reuters) – Madrid’s zoo on Thursday welcomed a giant panda couple to their new home as another phase of China’s breeding and reproduction programme for the bears begins in Spain.
Former Queen Sofia, an advocate for pandas since the 1970s, hosted the official introduction of the three-year-old bears Jin Xi and Zhu Yu in Madrid.
The pair were flown from Chengdu in southwestern China last month, but were officially introduced on Thursday after a quarantine period.
China has loaned its treasured bears to overseas zoos over the years as goodwill ambassadors while also running conservation programmes back home that have seen their status improve from endangered to vulnerable.
There are 728 pandas in zoos and breeding centres around the world.
“I am convinced that under the care of Spain, this new couple will settle in their new home in Madrid, grow healthily and continue to give, as always, a lot of joy to the Spanish public, especially to the children,” China’s ambassador in Spain Yao Jing said during the ceremony.
Spain has been part of the conservation programme for more than 40 years. Madrid zoo has helped breed six panda cubs in the last 17 years.
Madrid zoo experts think it will take two or three years before the pair can reproduce because of their age.
Jin Xi and Zhu Yu are being fed more than 60 species of fresh bamboo and tender shoots, the zoo said.
“We have been lucky that they came right in the sprouting season. The part they like the most are the bamboo shoots, which are very tender and have a high nutrient content,” said Rebeca Ortega, who has been a panda caretaker at the zoo for 16 years.
The population of giant pandas in the wild has grown from around 1,100 in the 1980s to 1,900 in 2023.
(Reporting by Michael Gore and Juan Medina; writing by Emma Pinedo; editing by Charlie Devereux and Jan Harvey)
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