Two male
pandas born in Japan four years ago will become
the first overseas-born twin pandas ever to come to China next
week.
Ryuhin and Shuhin are due to leave Osaka, Japan at 3:30 AM
(Beijing time) on October 27, stay in Beijing overnight and arrive
at Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, the following day, Chengdu
Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding announced on Wednesday.
They would be quarantined in a newly-built house at the base for
two to three months, when they would adapt to the new environment
before being shown to visitors, said Huang Xiangming, curator of
the animal management department with the base.
The pair were born on September 8, 2003, to Yong Ming and Mei
Mei, which the research base leased to the Adventure World Park Zoo
in western Japan's Wakayama prefecture in 1994 and 2000
respectively under a Sino-Japanese cooperation program on giant
panda breeding.
China has carried out long-term cooperation programs on giant
panda breeding with Japan, the United States and Spain since 1994.
The first overseas-born panda Hua Mei came to China from the United
States in 2004.
According to China's policy, cubs born overseas by pandas on
loan must be sent to China after they become sexually mature or the
cooperation ends.
Giant pandas are one of the most endangered species in the
world. There are only 1,590 giant pandas living in the wild, most
of them in southwest China's mountainous regions.
By the end of 2006, about 210 giant pandas lived in captivity in
China.
(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2007)
