Panda Tongue

The only place on Earth that the Giant Panda lives in the wild is in the mountains of central China. Researchers believe there are less than 1000 of these beautiful animals left, of which about 300 or so live in captivity. Atlanta is fortunate to have in its zoo 2 of only 4 pandas in U.S. zoos. The other 2 are in the San Diego Zoo. The National Zoo in Washington D.C. recently lost what would have been the 5th in the U.S., a Giant Panda named Hsing Hsing who passed away on November 28, 1999. One of the most famous panda couples consisted of Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling. These were presented to President Nixon in 1972 by the Chinese government as a token of goodwill after his historic visit to China. Ling Ling died in 1992.

Pandas in the wild will live about 18 to 20 years while those in captivity will live to be about 30. The oldest living Giant Panda is in Wuhan Zoo, China and is an unbelievable 36 years old!