The health of the giant panda "Yaya" in the United States has always affected the hearts of the public. According to reports, "Yaya" has completed the physical condition assessment and is about to return to China. Under the lease, Yaya and her partner Lele came to the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee in 2003 and plan to return to China in April this year. But on the eve of returning to China, 24-year-old "Lele" unfortunately passed away.
The expert group assessed that at present, in addition to hair loss caused by skin diseases, "Yaya" has a good appetite, normal fecal traits and stable weight. The expert group also discussed with the Memphis garden authorities on the abnormal situation of "Yaya"'s coat, and put forward suggestions and requirements to the US side on the feeding and care of "Yaya".
Giant pandas are a national treasure of the mainland, but this road to "national treasure" is actually quite difficult.
The arduous road of giant pandas to "national treasures"
The mainland is rich in species, and some places with mountains and pleasant seasons are treasures of feng shui where wild animals gather. Baoxing County in Ya'an City, Sichuan Province, has nearly 1/4 of China's animal species, including giant pandas, of course.
The environment in which giant pandas live has always been relatively hidden, and they rarely go out, so the ancients rarely found traces of giant pandas, even in ancient times, there are few records of them.
Until the 60s of the 19th century, Armand David, a missionary from France, when he was the fourth generation priest of the Dengchigou Church on the Muping Donghe River, found a black and white animal skin in a house.
David was a missionary interested in novel animals, and when he realized that the animal might be "an interesting species in science," he hired people to search and capture it around Baoxing County.
Specimens of giant pandas on display in foreign museums
Since then, more and more people have discovered the business opportunities and come to China to capture giant pandas. At this time, the giant panda was also called "cat bear", and it is said that it was later called "panda" because of Chinese's writing habits.
For nearly a century, giant pandas have faced slaughter. A large number of giant pandas were hunted and made into specimens and sent to Germany, Britain and the United States.
Later, China realized that the number of giant pandas had decreased significantly, and by the 40s of the 20th century, it began to restrict foreigners from catching giant pandas, but such restrictions were only face-saving work.
At the time, China was in a war-torn era, so there was little time to care about the giant pandas facing slaughter. It was not until the founding of New China that the protection of giant pandas was gradually put on the agenda, and finally became a "national treasure" on the mainland after several decades.
However, there are so many rare species in China, why have giant pandas become a "national treasure" on the mainland? Perhaps it can be explained from the following aspects.
Giant pandas are China's "living fossils"
The pandas we see now eat almost exclusively bamboo, but pandas were once real carnivores. They evolved beyond our imagination, and began to be active on the land of China as early as 8 million years ago.
Contemporaneous species such as mammoths, ground otters, saber-toothed tigers and short-faced bears have evolved away. Therefore, giant pandas are not only endemic species on the mainland, but also rare "living fossils" on the Chinese land, which to a large extent have scientific research value, so they have the opportunity to become a "national treasure".
The evolutionary history of giant pandas
Giant pandas are full of cute dots
Almost everyone who has seen giant pandas will be attracted by their cuteness, with a chubby body, round face, iconic dark circles, etc., all over the body.
In addition to being cute, people also like their unfazed attitude. The giant pandas we see have always been indisputable images, and everything around them seems to have nothing to do with them.
Once during World War II, a giant panda named "Ming" lived at London Zoo. At that time, the city was being bombed by Germany, but "Ming" did not care, and still played on his own as usual.
After seeing the attitude of "Ming" in the face of shells, the citizens thought that he was a hero in the war.
High-profile "Panda Diplomacy"
Giant pandas are of great significance to China, and here we have to mention the high-profile "panda diplomacy".
After the founding of New China, as a symbol of peace and friendship, the giant panda has repeatedly gone abroad to serve as a friendly envoy, making indelible contributions to the development of friendly relations with foreign countries.
In 1980, China gave a "crystal crystal" to London Zoo in the United Kingdom to take a bath
The most famous "panda diplomacy" took place in 1972. In February of that year, US President Nixon visited China, and Premier Zhou Enlai announced a grand national gift to the American people, that is, the giant pandas "Lingling" and "Xingxing" from Baoxing County, Sichuan Province.
On April 26 of that year, when "Lingling" and "Xingxing" arrived at the National Zoo in Washington by special plane from Beijing, they were greeted by 8,000 American spectators in the rain, and more than 1 million visitors in the first month of opening and meeting the audience.
It is understood that between 1957 and 1982, 23 giant pandas were sent to 9 countries, including the Soviet Union, the United States, Japan, and France. Later, in order to protect endangered species, the gift was changed to "lease". After entering the 21st century, it was changed to "cooperative research".
As a "national treasure", pandas have always been loved by people all over the world. According to statistics reported by multinational media, there are currently about 67 giant pandas living overseas, living in 20 countries including the United States, Japan, France, and Spain.
The countries that currently "own" the most pandas are the United States and Japan, both with 8; It is followed by France, Spain and Belgium, with 5 each. The largest number of pandas live in Europe, about 28, and the Middle East finally welcomed the first pair of pandas during the World Cup in Qatar last year; And Africa and South America have not yet had pandas to go on "business trips".
Compared with "Yaya", the giant pandas "Ruyi" and "Tintin" living in Russia "changed their painting style" in Moscow, rolling ropes and pulling buckets to "rush", and properly became "kung fu pandas". According to Russian media reports, the two giant pandas gained 40 kilograms each after staying at the Moscow Zoo in 2019. Netizens ridiculed that after a while, they will be able to ride their motorcycles back.
I hope that Yaya will return to China as soon as possible, and I hope that the giant pandas living overseas can be as healthy and full of vitality as "Ruyi" and "Tintin"!
Comprehensive from CCTV Network, Spy in the Box, Global Network, Golden Ten Data, etc
Executive Producer | Xu Na Kong Kangkang Editor-in-Chief | Tomeikata Editor丨Wang Yiyi