Asahi: Popular giant panda from China dies
Ling Ling, the last surviving giant panda kept at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo and a symbol of friendship in Japan's often shaky ties with China, died Wednesday of heart failure, officials said. The male panda was 22 years and 7 months old, which in human terms would mean Ling Ling was about 70 years old, Tokyo metropolitan government officials said. Ling Ling's death mean that the Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo's Taito Ward, which became the starting point for so-called panda diplomacy in 1972, will be without a panda for the first time in 36 years...more...

He looks really comfortable in his all natural hard-tile floor habitat.

FG Lurker wrote:He looks really comfortable in his all natural hard-tile floor habitat.

It was interesting last night on TV as some commentators were discussing the fact that when a panda from China is mated to a panda in Japan the cub when born must be returned to China (or for that matter, any foreign country). They claimed this isn't right and the cub should belong to Japan.

Since it is not a FG, they worry about the nationality at birth! Take, time for your explanation.....

I wonder if foreign panda are lazy, prone to violence, and frequently pee on the floors? The first and third traits sum me up pretty well.

Greji wrote:It was interesting last night on TV as some commentators were discussing the fact that when a panda from China is mated to a panda in Japan the cub when born must be returned to China (or for that matter, any foreign country). They claimed this isn't right and the cub should belong to Japan.

Since it is not a FG, they worry about the nationality at birth! Take, time for your explanation.....

If a male FG is mated to a female in Japan, does the "cub" belong to Japan?

Behan wrote:I wonder if foreign panda are lazy, prone to violence, and frequently pee on the floors?

Well, even a mixed-nationality cub well eventually be prone to violence, they grow up watching the foreign panda perpetuate DV on the Japanese panda. It's a vicious cycle.

R.I.P little one, may you have a sweet journey to that bamboo heaven in the sky.
Bless you.

kamome wrote:If a male FG is mated to a female in Japan, does the "cub" belong to Japan?

They've claimed the off spring of everything over here that I've mated with....


That's an interesting question. The TV show I mentioned seemed to say that none of the progeny can belong to Japan. I suppose that is because Japan has no Panda's of their own. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe all of them are considered "on loan" from overseas (read China), no matter how long they've been here. And you think you have a tough time getting eijuken status!

That panda had been in the country for so long, they should have granted full Japanese citizenship.

ABS-CBN: Japan asks to borrow giant pandas from China

Japan's prime minister said Thursday he has asked to borrow some giant pandas from China after Ling Ling, one of the best-loved animals at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, died of old age this week...Japan already leases eight pandas from China, and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told reporters he had asked for more...Reports said Tokyo is hoping China will loan the zoo a pair of the endangered pandas, who are famed for their apparent lack of interest in sex.

I guess this is a question only the Chinese would know. -How do you cook panda?

[YT]jh3bVwotUZ4[/YT]

Genseisha

Greji wrote:That's an interesting question. The TV show I mentioned seemed to say that none of the progeny can belong to Japan. I suppose that is because Japan has no Panda's of their own. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe all of them are considered "on loan" from overseas (read China), no matter how long they've been here. And you think you have a tough time getting eijuken status!

I thought that was a condition for all Pandas in zoos outside China, but according to Wikipedia:
[quote]
Loans of giant pandas to American and Japanese zoos formed an important part of the diplomacy of the People's Republic of China in the 1970s, as it marked some of the first cultural exchanges between the People's Republic and the West. This practice has been termed "Panda Diplomacy".

By the year 1984, however, pandas were no longer used as agents of diplomacy. Instead, China began to offer pandas to other nations only on 10-year loans. The standard loan terms include a fee of up to US$ 1,000,000 per year and a provision that any cubs born during the loan are the property of the People's Republic of China. Since 1998, due to a WWF lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service only allows a U.S. zoo to import a panda if the zoo can ensure that China will channel more than half of its loan fee into conservation efforts for wild pandas and their habitat.

Three zoos in Japan show giant pandas:
* Ueno Zoo, Tokyo - home of Ling Ling (M), he was the only panda with "Japanese citizenship", and passed away April 30, 2008 at the age of 22.
* Oji Zoo, Kobe, Hyō]Looking through the Japanese Wiki page, it appears that other than Ling Ling, all the Pandas in Japan (and their offspring) officially have Chinese "citizenship".

Blinky has also decided to chime in.

Mainichi: Ishihara says no need to 'panda' for new animals, Ueno Zoo's late Ling Ling to get stuffed

Controversial Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has thrown government plans to ask China for a new panda into disarray with a crude verbal assault on the endangered animals, saying "they're not gods" and questioning whether Tokyo needs pandas.

Ishihara's outburst came following the death of Ling Ling, a 22-year-old panda that died on Wednesday at Ueno Zoo, leaving the animal park without one of the enormously popular pandas for the first time in 36 years.

And the governor's anti-panda rhetoric also coincided neatly with the national government's attempts to be sound out its Chinese counterpart about the chances of getting a new panda for Tokyo.

"It's not like (pandas) are sacred or anything. Do we really need them?" the governor told reporters during a regular news conference. "Living creatures die. Pandas die. The world's not such a big place anymore, so if people want to see pandas, they should go to where the pandas are."

sublight wrote:Blinky has also decided to chime in.

Mainichi: Ishihara says no need to 'panda' for new animals, Ueno Zoo's late Ling Ling to get stuffed

Actually, I kind of agree with the guy for once.

Mainichi: Tokyo Gov. Ishihara questions 'excessive' rental fee for pandas at Ueno Zoo

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara anti-panda crusade continues, with the object of his ire this time being the rental fee for a pair of giant pandas provided by China following the death of Ueno Zoo's Ling Ling. "Just what does it mean to take money under a banner of goodwill and friendship? I think it's a rather excessive price." Ishihara complained during a scheduled briefing on Friday. The rental fee for the pandas is believed to be about 100 million yen. "It's the metropolitan government's taxes that pay the money. Do people want to go that far to see them? I couldn't care less about them," he continued. Ishihara also turned his attention to the panda souvenirs on sale at the zoo, saying that if the pandas didn't come and the goods were left over, they should be passed on to other zoos with pandas. In a previous statement Ishihara has already said that pandas were not sacred, and questioned the need for them.

If there's a vote for names for the new pandas, I think we need to try to get "Blinky" in there.

Is it zoos in general or just Japanese zoos that love to stuff their dead animals?

I wonder if they will hire a pro or DIY?

I wonder why no one has ever thought about getting one of those robotic pandas.

At least you can ride on it and it won't take a dump on you.

dimwit wrote:I guess this is a question only the Chinese would know. -How do you cook panda?

A gr-r-r-reat translation from Kyodo....

That panda looks high:

It would probably work out cheaper to get a guy in a panda suit to sit all day in the zoo. They don't look too bad. To make it more authentic, the zoo could even hire a Chinese trainee worker for the job.

As Blinky Ishihara is the one complaining about the cost, perhaps he could fill the position and start to earn his salary instead of wasting billions of tax payers money on the Blinky bank.

Mulboyne wrote:It would probably work out cheaper to get a guy in a panda suit to sit all day in the zoo. They don't look too bad. To make it more authentic, the zoo could even hire a Chinese trainee worker for the job.

Hey, that ain't right, I've been here longer and should have senority. What's it pay?

Mulboyne wrote:
That panda looks high . . .

Maybe he was one of this group of puffing pandas, caught enjoying a few tokes at tea time:


[SIZE="1"]Photo: Reuters[/SIZE]

Stuffed Ling Ling

Man, even dead it can't get any peace.

[quote="kurohinge1"]Maybe he was one of this group of puffing pandas, caught enjoying a few tokes at tea time:


[SIZE="1"]Photo: Reuters[/SIZE]

]

So that's why pandas are so lethargic.

[SIZE="4"]Panda in Japan zoo dies during breeding [/SIZE]

A male giant panda in a Japanese zoo had died after it was sedated so it could donate semen in an artificial insemination program, a zoo official said on Friday.

Kou Kou, or Xing Xing in Chinese, died on Thursday of cardiac arrest after failing to recover from an anaesthetic at the Oji Zoo in the western port city of Kobe.

Veterinarians had sedated the 14-year-old animal as part of a program to impregnate his partner Tan Tan, or Shuang Shuang in Chinese, also 14.

The zoo has set up a site for floral tributes and a message board.

Giant pandas, a highly endangered species native to parts of China, are notoriously slow at reproducing in captivity.

The Kobe zoo, after trying in vain to naturally mate the pair from 2003 to 2006, then began trying artificial insemination.

[YT]tw6T7MpwMSo[/YT]

That Tan Tan must be one ugly panda if they had to sedate guys to impregnate her!