Chinese internet users have expressed concern about the health of giant panda Ya Ya, who is on loan from China at the Memphis Zoo in the U.S. state of Tennessee, with many commenters saying its condition is much worse than that of recently-returned Japanese-born panda Xiang Xiang.
The Japan-born giant panda Xiang Xiang is about to be transferred to an airplane in Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 21, 2023.Xiang Xiang, a female panda born here on June 12, 2017, was the first panda naturally born and raised at the zoo in the nearly three decades since You You, born in 1988.
Xiang Xiang, a 5-year-old female panda born in Tokyo's Ueno Zoological Gardens, finally departed for China on Tuesday. Her parents were loaned to Tokyo for breeding research under a deal that the offspring would belong to China.
Large crowds gathered at Tokyo's Narita Airport on Tuesday to say goodbye as Xiang Xiang, the first giant panda naturally bred and raised in Japan, was flown home to China.
A 30-year-old giant panda and his 8-year-old Japan-born female twins leave for China after spending years at a zoo in western Japan under a joint breeding program of the two countries.