I only saw one panda in the No5 Villa and that was Bao Mei 宝妹 – not to be mistaken with the Bao Mei born (and at the time of my visit) and living at Pairi Daiza, but one born in China. Funnily enough she was also born in 2019 and also has a twin brother (Bao Ge 宝哥, while the Belgian brother is Bao Di). Having lived in the kindergarten in that year, it’s very possible that her and her twin were cubs that I saw on my 2019 trip, so it’s special to think I may be seeing her again. What is special about Bao Mei is that she is the cub of a born-overseas panda – her mother is Po, also known as A Bao 阿宝 or Bao Lan 宝兰, who was born at Zoo Atlanta in 2010 and travelled to China in 2014. Bao Mei and Bao Ge were her first pregnancy, and are the heaviest twins born on record (both being over 200g at birth). One thing that was difficult in finding information is that a male panda born in Zoo Madrid in 2010 also received the same Po/A Bao naming, and actually female Po was originally thought to be male. Anyway, Bao Mei was incredibly cute when I saw her, initially there were almost no people at her yard and I was alone while seeing her sitting high on platforms above the ground. She then got up and walked along to a new spot with a fresh pile of bamboo and at that time more people could see her and she had quite a crowd watching her. As a youngster, her and twin Bao Ge were in a trio with Jin Bao 金宝 (who I later saw, photos to come!) and they were known as ‘the three treasures’. In December 2023 she was moved on to her current solo-yard where her neighbours are Hua Hua and He Ye. She is definitely a particularly cute panda, and very photogenic, I especially like the first photo of her here: