Onto the final house in the Panda Creek Valley, and the final post on Chengdu Panda Base for this trip series – the Cloud Moon Pavilion. There are 3 outdoor and 2 indoor enclosures in this pavilion, and currently there are 3 pandas listed as living here. On my visit I saw the same two pandas on both days of my visit, and both of them still live in the pavilion currently.
Ji You
The first panda I saw was Ji You 绩优, a male born in 2007 making him 16 years old at the time of my visit. He had just been served a fresh pile of bamboo and shoots when I got there, so he was having a good look around for any extra treats before settling for his preferred bamboo. I can’t find any information about him online, but his mother Cheng Ji has been a very prolific breeder – Ji You and his twin (Ji Li – seen in the Bright Moon Pavilion) were her first pregnancy and she has gone on to have at least 5 further pregnancies, so Ji You has many younger siblings.
Bing Xing?
The other panda I saw didn’t actually have a name sign, however I’d seen on social media that Bing Xing 冰星 had been spotted on show in the new area – I deduced from the pictures that it was one of the pavilions that looked like this, and this was the only panda that didn’t have a sign. Bing Xing, along with his partner Hui Zui Ba and their three youngest cubs, Chulina, Jia Jia and You You returned from Spain to China on the 1st of March 2024, so had really only finished their quarantine just before I got there, so the lack of signage likely pairs with the newness of him being on show. And Bing Xing actually has a connection with Ji You (above) – he spent a few years living at Hangzhou Wildlife World with Cheng Ji, Ji You‘s mother, before they both moved back to the Chengdu Base and eventually he was selected to move to Spain in 2007. And this is not my first time seeing him, I visited Zoo Aquarium Madrid in June 2023 and had a great time seeing the 5 pandas there, so I’m pleased to see him again – and he’s still listed to live in this pavilion, so I’m looking forward to trying to see him again soon =)
