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Taipei Zoo's Veteran Giant Panda Celebrates 20th Birthday

Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
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Taipei Zoo's Veteran Giant Panda Celebrates 20th Birthday

Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

With politics set aside, well-wishers gathered to wish the Taipei zoo’s senior panda a happy 20th birthday.
Visitors crowded around Yuanyuan's enclosure to take photos of her with a birthday cake in the shape of the number 20.
Yuanyuan was born in China and arrived in 2008 with her partner Tuantuan. He died in 2022 at age 18 but not before fathering two female cubs, Yuanzai and Yuanbao, now 11 and 4 respectively and still living at the zoo.
Danielle Shu, a 20-year-old Brazilian student in Taiwan, said she found online clips of the pandas an enjoyable distraction. “And I just find it really funny and cute,” The Associated Press quoted Shu as saying.
Giant pandas are native only to China, and Beijing bestows them as a sign of political amity. Yuanyuan and Tuantuan arrived in Taiwan during a period of relative calm between the sides, which split amid civil war in 1949. China claims the island its own territory, to be annexed by military force if necessary.
Faced with declining habitat and a notoriously low birthrate, giant panda populations have declined to around 1,900 in the mountains of western China, while 600 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers in China and around the world.

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Saudi National Center for Wildlife Releases 134 Endangered Species at NEOM Nature Reserve

The release into NEOM Nature Reserve reinforces Saudi Arabia's efforts to protect endangered species and restore their roles in the natural environment. (SPA)
The release into NEOM Nature Reserve reinforces Saudi Arabia's efforts to protect endangered species and restore their roles in the natural environment. (SPA)
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Saudi National Center for Wildlife Releases 134 Endangered Species at NEOM Nature Reserve

The release into NEOM Nature Reserve reinforces Saudi Arabia's efforts to protect endangered species and restore their roles in the natural environment. (SPA)
The release into NEOM Nature Reserve reinforces Saudi Arabia's efforts to protect endangered species and restore their roles in the natural environment. (SPA)

The Saudi National Center for Wildlife (NCW), in cooperation with NEOM, released 134 endangered species into NEOM Nature Reserve as part of programs for breeding and rewilding native species in their natural habitats.

NEOM Nature Reserve has received 100 Arabian oryxes, 20 Arabian gazelles, eight Nubian ibexes, and six Idmi gazelles to enhance previous releases, enrich biodiversity, and restore ecological systems within the Kingdom's natural environments.

NCW CEO Dr. Mohammed Ali Qurban explained that this move is part of a series of releases conducted by NCW in various nature reserves. He emphasized that the release into NEOM Nature Reserve reflects the strong constructive cooperation and integration with partners in the wildlife sector.

Qurban stated that the center is committed to breeding and reintroducing endangered species into their natural habitats based on the highest global standards and practices.

He underscored the ongoing efforts to protect ecosystems, restore biodiversity, and enhance environmental balance to meet national objectives.

The NCW currently operates specialized facilities that rank among the leading global centers for breeding and reintroducing endangered species according to the highest standards, he added.

This release into NEOM Nature Reserve reinforces Saudi Arabia's efforts to protect endangered species and restore their roles in the natural environment, boosting the appeal of nature reserves and national parks to promote eco-tourism, with a focus on building a sustainable future for coming generations.