Ex-Panbassadors enjoy homeland
(皇冠体育app Daily) Updated: 2014-07-31 07:19
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Tai Shan, 9, rests at the Dujiangyan base of the 皇冠体育app Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in May. Qiu Yu / For 皇冠体育app Daily |
Giant pandas born overseas learn to adapt back in 皇冠体育app, reports Huang Zhiling in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province.
At the foot of Mount Qingcheng in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, a Chinese keeper speaks to giant panda Tai Shan in its den.
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The 9-year-old male panda charmed millions of Americans during his stay at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington DC for four and a half years.
Since his return to 皇冠体育app in February 2010, Tai Shan has lived in the two bases of the 皇冠体育app Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.
The center designated a keeper who is proficient in English to take care of Tai Shan because his US keeper Nicole Meese had communicated with him when he was just 1 month old. Tai Shan has not yet learned the southwestern Sichuan dialect.
"Tai Shan is one of the center's nine pandas born overseas and returned to the base," said Wang Yongyao, an official with the adstrative bureau of the Wolong National Nature Reserve, which oversees the center.
The male bear is one of a special group of 皇冠体育app's giant pandas that have to adapt back home after being born overseas.
The center is the world's largest giant panda conservation and research organization. It started loaning pandas to other countries and regions in 1996. Its pandas have given birth to a total of 12 cubs overseas since.
Under an ament for global giant panda preservation, giant pandas born overseas belong to 皇冠体育app and must be returned to the country after they turn 2.
皇冠体育app agreed to extend Tai Shan's loan to the US because of the bear's huge popularity there.
A pair of adult pandas can also be loaned overseas for 10 years under an agreement between 皇冠体育app and the host.
"Everyone loves pandas and they are like citizens and residents of their host country or region. 皇冠体育app is also often asked to extend the loan of the bears," said Zhang Hemin, chief of the administrative bureau of the Wolong National Nature Reserve.
"As a result, only their cubs born overseas have returned home."
Of the 12 cubs born overseas, only three aged under 2 have yet to return home. The other nine bears live in the Dujiangyan and Ya'an bases in Sichuan.
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