After more than one month’s voting, 10 star animals were awarded in a special ceremony in the Shenzhen Safari Park on Sunday.

The animals include a red-haired orangutan, a black orangutan, a giant panda, an elephant, a sea lion, a white-cheeked gibbon, a black bear, a white tiger, a snub-nosed monkey and a couple of giraffes. The animals were chosen out of more than 11,000 animals of 360 varieties in the safari park.

The appraisal is based on several criteria such as health, appearance, talents, popularity, fertility and rarity.

Individual special prizes, such as the most popular star prize, were also awarded according to the numbers of votes they obtained. The red-haired orangutan nicknamed Beibei won 68,480 votes alone, which granted her the honor of the most popular star.

The giant panda won the lifetime honor, the sea lion obtained the most talented award and the couple of giraffes got the most elegant award.

According to organizers, the living places for all winning animals were renovated to make a five-star home for them.

Over the past month, a total of 107,539 city residents and visitors from all over the country cast their votes through e-mails, mobile phone messages and faxes.

A lucky draw was also held Sunday to commend 27 people who have actively participated in the voting.

(Shenzhen Daily May 23, 2005)