The oldest giant panda living in captivity is set to challenge a world record for longevity, with her age said to put her on par with a centenarian.
Hong Kong’s giant panda Jia Jia, whose name means “good,” is to turn 37 this summer at the Ocean Park resort, matching the Guinness World Records title for the oldest panda survivor in captivity — Du Du, which died in 1999 aged 37.
“It is rare for pandas to live to this age,” park director of animal care Grant Abel said. “It’s probably equivalent to someone, a human person, who would be over a hundred years of age.”
Photo: Reuters
Jia Jia’s caregivers said they are considering sending an application to Guinness World Records after the celebration of its birthday, which is observed in summer, although the exact date is not known, as it was captured in the wild.
Born in China in 1978, Jia Jia was gifted to Hong Kong in 1999, along with another panda, to mark the second anniversary of the city’s handover from former colonial ruler Britain.
It weighs 80kg and is considered to be in remarkably good health for its age, even though its vision is severely impaired and its hearing has deteriorated, park lead veterinarian Paolo Martelli said.
Jia Jia takes medicines for high blood pressure and arthritis. It walks slowly and avoids the exhibition area of the enclosure, preferring to stay at the back and feast on several kilograms of bamboo shoots and leaves, besides fruit and high-fiber bread.
“The first thing I thought when I saw Jia Jia was: ‘Oh my God, she’s so old, I’m going to be the one to bury her,’ but actually it’s been 10 years now. And she’s had a few ups and downs, but she always manages to bounce back and look surprisingly good for years after that,” Martelli said, adding that it was hard to predict the animal’s remaining lifespan.
Pandas are endangered because most of their natural habitat has been destroyed for timber, farming and construction, according to the WWF.
A Chinese government survey last year estimated 1,864 pandas live in the wild, up by 17 percent from 2003.
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