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Fans Bid Farewell to 4 Giant Pandas at Japan Zoo Before their Return to China

Giant panda Saihin, one among the four pandas on loan to Japan which will soon be heading back to China sits inside an enclosure at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ayaka McGill)
Giant panda Saihin, one among the four pandas on loan to Japan which will soon be heading back to China sits inside an enclosure at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ayaka McGill)
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Fans Bid Farewell to 4 Giant Pandas at Japan Zoo Before their Return to China

Giant panda Saihin, one among the four pandas on loan to Japan which will soon be heading back to China sits inside an enclosure at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ayaka McGill)
Giant panda Saihin, one among the four pandas on loan to Japan which will soon be heading back to China sits inside an enclosure at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ayaka McGill)

Thousands of fans bid a teary farewell Friday to a family of four giant pandas at a zoo in Japan’s coastal town of Shirahama as the animals made their last public appearance before their return to China.

Around 3,000 visitors flocked to the Adventure World theme park to get a last glimpse of the beloved animals. Many rushed straight to the panda exhibit zone, calling out the names of their favorites, The Associated Press reported.

Although the 24-year-old mother Rauhin and her three daughters — Yuihin, Saihin and Fuhin — were all born and raised at the park, they remain on loan from China and must now be returned.

Once they return to China, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo will be the only pandas left in Japan.

More than 1,000 people, many wearing panda-themed attire, queued outside the entrance of the theme park hours before it opened while some camped outside the night before.

Some people wiped off tears while viewing throwback images of the pandas when they were cubs.

Yoshihiko Fukuzumi recalls the arrival of the first two pandas at the park 30 years ago and has watch their family grow. Since retiring three years ago, he and his wife have visited them nearly everyweek. “To us, they are like our grandchildren."

Giant pandas are native to southwestern China and serve as an unofficial national mascot. Beijing lends them to other countries as a sign of goodwill but maintains ownership over them and any cubs they produce.

Born in 2000, Rauhin had seven other cubs with Eimei, a male panda sent from China in 1994. Eimei returned home two years ago and has since died.

Despite strained political ties between Japan and China, giant pandas are hugely popular in Japan.

“We feel comforted just by looking at pandas,” said zoo director Koji Imazu.

Imazu said the departure of the four pandas marks the end of the zoo's 30-year joint project with China. He thanked Chinese specialists for sharing their expertise with the Japanese staff and said the zoo will be ready for a new arrival at any time.

“Of course we all miss them, but I hope you could send them off with a cheerful wave and wish them well in China,” Imazu said.

In Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said giant pandas are “friendly ambassadors" conveying the goodwill of the Chinese people.

Guo said that China and Japan have collaborated on panda conservation and research since 2000, and that China is ready to further strengthen international cooperation, including with Japan.

Rauhin and her daughters will be flown to China on Saturday where they will join other pandas at a facility in Sichuan province near their original habitat. There, the three young ones will find partners.

“I still can't believe they're all leaving,” said Junko Ikeda, a Fuhin fan from neighboring Nara prefecture who spent Thursday night in her camper van for the send-off. "I hope she finds a partner, becomes a mother and lives a happy life.”

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Varieties

Rocket Re-entry Pollution Measured in Atmosphere for 1st Time

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Dragon spacecraft on top launches from Space Launch Complex 40 for the Crew-12 mission at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on February 13, 2026. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Dragon spacecraft on top launches from Space Launch Complex 40 for the Crew-12 mission at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on February 13, 2026. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
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Rocket Re-entry Pollution Measured in Atmosphere for 1st Time

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Dragon spacecraft on top launches from Space Launch Complex 40 for the Crew-12 mission at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on February 13, 2026. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Dragon spacecraft on top launches from Space Launch Complex 40 for the Crew-12 mission at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on February 13, 2026. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

When part of a SpaceX rocket re-entered Earth's atmosphere exactly a year ago, it created a spectacular fireball that streaked across Europe's skies, delighting stargazers and sending a team of scientists rushing towards their instruments.

The German team managed to measure the pollution the rocket's upper stage emitted in our planet's difficult-to-study upper atmosphere -- the first time this has been achieved, according to a study published on Thursday.

It is vital to learn more about this little-understood form of pollution because of the huge number of satellites that are planned to be launched in the coming years, the scientists emphasized.

In the early hours of February 19, 2025, the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket was tumbling back to Earth when it exploded into a fireball that made headlines from the UK to Poland.

"We were excited to try and test our equipment and hopefully measure the debris trail," the team led by Robin Wing and Gerd Baumgarten of the Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Germany told AFP via email.

In particular, the scientists wanted to measure how the rocket polluted what they call the "ignorosphere" -- because it is so difficult to study.

This region between 50 to 100 kilometers (31 to 62 miles) above Earth includes the mesosphere and part of the lower thermosphere.

- 'Harbinger' -

The team used technology called LIDAR, which measures pollution in the atmosphere by shooting out lots of laser pulses and seeing which bounce back off something.

They detected a sudden spike in the metal lithium in an area nearly 100 kilometers above Earth. This plume had 10 times more lithium than is normal in this part of the atmosphere.

The team then traced the plume back to where the rocket re-entered the atmosphere, west of Ireland.

For the first time, this proves it is possible to study pollution from re-entering rockets at such heights before it disperses, the scientists said.

But the impact from this rocket pollution remains unknown.

"What we do know is that one ton of emissions at 75 kilometers (altitude) is equivalent to 100,000 tons at the surface," they said.

The study warned the case was a "harbinger" of the pollution to come, given how many rockets will be needed to launch all the satellites that Earth is planning to blast into space.

Currently, there are around 14,000 active satellites orbiting our planet.
In the middle of last month, China applied for permission to launch around 200,000 satellites into orbit.

Then at the end of January, billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX applied for permission to launch one million more.

Eloise Marais, a professor of atmospheric chemistry at University College London not involved in the new study, told AFP the research was "really important".

"There is currently no suitable regulation targeting pollution input into the upper layers of the atmosphere," she explained.

"Even though these portions of the atmosphere are far from us, they have potentially consequential impacts to life on Earth if the pollutants produced are able to affect Earth's climate and deplete ozone in the layer protecting us from harmful UV radiation."

The study was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

Varieties

Deep-sea Fish Break the Mold with Novel Visual System

A close-up showing the shiny silver-green photophores (light organs) on the lower head of the deep-sea fish Maurolicus muelleri from the Red Sea, seen in this photograph released on February 11, 2026. Dr. Wen-Sung Chung/Handout via REUTERS
A close-up showing the shiny silver-green photophores (light organs) on the lower head of the deep-sea fish Maurolicus muelleri from the Red Sea, seen in this photograph released on February 11, 2026. Dr. Wen-Sung Chung/Handout via REUTERS
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Deep-sea Fish Break the Mold with Novel Visual System

A close-up showing the shiny silver-green photophores (light organs) on the lower head of the deep-sea fish Maurolicus muelleri from the Red Sea, seen in this photograph released on February 11, 2026. Dr. Wen-Sung Chung/Handout via REUTERS
A close-up showing the shiny silver-green photophores (light organs) on the lower head of the deep-sea fish Maurolicus muelleri from the Red Sea, seen in this photograph released on February 11, 2026. Dr. Wen-Sung Chung/Handout via REUTERS

For more than a century, biology textbooks have stated that vision among vertebrates - people included - is built from two clearly defined cell types: rods for processing dim light and cones for bright light and color. New research involving deep-sea fish shows this tidy division is, in reality, not so tidy.

Scientists have identified a new type of visual cell in deep-sea fish that blends the shape and form of rods with the molecular machinery and genes of cones. This hybrid type of cell, adapted for sight in gloomy light conditions, was found in larvae of three deep-sea fish species in the Red Sea, Reuters reported.

The species studied were: a hatchetfish, with the scientific name Maurolicus mucronatus; a lightfish, named Vinciguerria mabahiss; and a lanternfish, named Benthosema pterotum. The hatchetfish retained the hybrid cells throughout its life. The other two shifted to the usual rod-cone dichotomy in adulthood.

All three are small, with adults measuring roughly 1-3 inches (3-7 cm) long and the larvae much littler. They inhabit a marine realm of twilight conditions, with sunlight struggling to penetrate into the watery depths.

The vertebrate retina, a sensory membrane at the back of the eye that detects light and converts it into signals to the brain, possesses two main types of light-sensitive visual cells, called photoreceptors. They are named for their shape: rods and cones.

"The rods and cones slowly change position inside the retina when moving between dim and bright conditions, which is why our eyes take time to adjust when we flick on the light switch on our way to the restroom at night," said Lily Fogg, a postdoctoral researcher in marine biology at the University of Helsinki in Finland and lead author of the research published in the journal Science Advances.

"We found that, as larvae, these deep-sea fish mostly use a mix-and-match type of hybrid photoreceptor. These cells look like rods - long, cylindrical and optimized to catch as many light particles - photons - as possible. But they use the molecular machinery of cones, switching on genes usually found only in cones," Fogg said.

The researchers examined the retinas of fish larvae caught at depths from 65 to 650 feet (20 to 200 meters). In the type of dim environment they inhabit, rod and cone cells both are usually engaged in the vertebrate retina, but neither works very well. These fish display an evolutionary remedy.

"Our results challenge the longstanding idea that rods and cones are two fixed, clearly separated cell types. Instead, we show that photoreceptors can blend structural and molecular features in unexpected ways. This suggests that vertebrate visual systems are more flexible and evolutionarily adaptable than previously thought," Fogg said.

"It is a very cool finding that shows that biology does not fit neatly into boxes," said study senior author Fabio Cortesi, a marine biologist and neuroscientist at the University of Queensland in Australia. "I wouldn't be surprised if we find these cells are much more common across all vertebrates, including terrestrial species."

All three species emit bioluminescence using small light-emitting organs on their bodies, mostly located on the belly. They produce blue-green light that blends with the faint background light from the sun above. This strategy, called counterillumination, is a common form of camouflage in the deep sea to avoid predators.

"Small fish like these fuel the open ocean. They are plentiful and serve as food for many larger predatory fishes, including tuna and marlin, marine mammals such as dolphins and whales, and marine birds," Cortesi said.

These kinds of fish also engage in one of the biggest daily migrations in the animal kingdom. They swim near the surface at night to feed in plankton-rich waters, then return to the depths - 650 to 3,280 feet (200 to 1,000 meters) - during daytime to avoid predation.

"The deep sea remains a frontier for human exploration, a mystery box with the potential for significant discoveries," Cortesi said. "We should look after this habitat with the utmost care to make sure future generations can continue to marvel at its wonders."

Varieties

Japan City Gets $3.6 Mn Donation in Gold to Fix Water System

FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
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Japan City Gets $3.6 Mn Donation in Gold to Fix Water System

FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Factories line the port of Osaka, western Japan October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/File Photo

Osaka has received an unusual donation -- 21 kilograms of gold -- to pay for the maintenance of its ageing water system, the Japanese commercial hub announced Thursday.

The donation worth $3.6 million was made in November by a person who a month earlier had already given $3,300 in cash for the municipal waterworks, Osaka Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama told a press conference.

"It's an absolutely staggering amount," said Yokoyama, adding that he was lost for words to express his gratitude.

"I was shocked."

The donor wished to remain anonymous, AFP quoted the mayor as saying.

Work to replace water pipes in Osaka, a city of 2.8 million residents, has hit a snag as the actual cost exceeded the planned budget, according to local media.