The final pandas of 2025 – to end the year I was back in China for a week in Shanghai and so I spent the 30th of December squeezing in one last panda visit. My first time to the Shanghai Wild Animal Park! And for sure it won’t be the last visit, I had such a great day overall, including a fantastic time visiting the pandas. I had hoped the 2025-born twins might perhaps be on show with their mum, but I was out of luck on that front. I did however see the other 4 pandas and honestly had a fabulous end to panda viewing of 2025 … tempted to do the same for 2026!
The park is big on their pandas, with lots of signage with the pandas on it pointing you in the right direction – this is good because the pandas are just about as far from the entrance as you can get! On the plus side, this means you can see some other animals on your way there and good to get those steps in for the day. If you want to save your legs, you can rent a little panda ‘golf-buggy’ type vehicle and drive yourself over – I didn’t do this but I might try it out next time if you don’t need a drivers licence to do so.
At the panda house of Shanghai Wild Animal Park there were 4 outdoor yards and 4 indoor spaces, some of these were empty on my visit but it gives them options to move pandas around, and perhaps there were pandas living off show as well. I only saw each of the pandas in the one space, e.g. I didn’t see the same panda both inside and outside. The area was really nice overall and had very nice panda theming throughout – plenty of panda signs and pictures to get photos and selfies with. At the middle and the end were gift shops, with the one at the end shaped like a panda, that was a fun touch^ So much panda merch to buy, lots was quite generic but there were some nice Shanghai Wild Animal Park specific items (notebooks, magnets etc) which were very nice – I also guess with the twins now on show there may be some more specific items available. There were also some items celebrating a 30th anniversary with the pandas on them as well There wasn’t a restaurant or cafe in the area, so no panda themed food or snacks, but there were ice cream freezers in the shop so of course I had to get a panda ice lolly even though it was December and not ice lolly weather! I do think there might have been a food stand option, because there was a panda food themed sign, but because it was Winter it was maybe closed for the season. The area was also well equipped with education information – there was lots of signage all over the panda area with educational information about pandas and their biology, and this was also all available in English, so it was very thorough information. Definitely impressed with this.
Overall it was pretty quiet the whole day (it was a weekday), so I never had a problem getting a spot to see or get photos. There were also mostly only adults visiting. I suspect with the twins now on show it may be somewhat more popular, because who can resist little panda cubs!
Xue Bao 雪宝
Xue Bao 雪宝 was the panda I saw first on my visit, and also the panda that I saw the most – he was outside enjoying his bamboo in a hammock when I first saw him, and that really set the tone for the day with him enjoying his various seat options! I almost didn’t see him sleep at all, he was constantly eating, walking around, or climbing on his frame or trees looking for the treats his keepers had put in hard to reach places. He was super active and agile, no treat was in a place to difficult to reach – and he was super cute doing it, I loved watching him climb the different options. The highlight was for sure seeing him chilling on his swing seat eating a carrot – I now think that every panda needs a swing seat haha! He was very happy to climb up the various posts and walk along narrow posts at height to get to the carrots and bamboo shoots and the crowd was loving him. I would say at most there were no more than 30-40 people at any one time watching him, and that was quite rare, overall it was pretty quiet in general so very easy to have a great viewing experience of this sweet boy.
Xue Bao was 8 years old on my visit, so just coming into adulthood, but clearly still has a youthful streak to him. He was born at the Shanghai Wild Animal Park – so there are lots of cute pictures of him online from his birth until the present, I’m happy to add to them^ Many people will have seen the photo of a panda standing up on its hind legs with front paws on its hips – well that’s Xue Bao! I love it! And they’ve used that in his super cute painted sign as well – now I didn’t see him quite in that pose, but he did stand up on his back legs to reach some of his hanging enrichment and that was fantastic. His mum is Si Xue who I have also seen before – I saw her on my February 2025 trip in the Ya’an Bifengxia Base living with her 2023-born cub!
Jia Jia 嘉嘉
Jia Jia 嘉嘉 was the second panda I saw, and she was in one of the indoor spaces, and seemed to prefer a quieter time away from the eyes of the public. She was sleeping quite a few times when I went past, and other times she was enjoying bamboo up on a high platform – unfortunately the positioning and glass made it tricky to get pictures of her here. But perseverance paid off – later in the afternoon she sat right up near the window and enjoyed a basket of goodies, so many bamboo shoots and carrots to choose from. I got so lucky, I was just in the perfect spot at the right time, and she sat there for ages making sure she’d gotten all the treats!
Jia Jia was 13 years old on my visit, so still young, but the oldest panda that I saw on the day, and she’s already a mother – her son Kang Kang also is still living at Shanghai Wild Animal Park (see his photos next!). What’s really interesting is that there isn’t any signage up that says this, but when I had seen them both, I could just completely see that they were related, a quick google confirmed! Now there isn’t very much information online about her at all, however I did find out that she was born at the Ya’an Bifengxia Panda Base an her mother is famous Hua Mei – Hua Mei was the first cub born at San Diego Zoo in 1999. After her move to China in 2004 she has become a key member of the breeding programme having had 14 cubs! Jia Jia is her 9th cub. Jia Jia‘s siblings include Hao Hao, the female who lived at Pairi Daiza, Belgium. Having looked at my and others’ pictures of Hua Mei, Jia Jia definitely resembles her mother.
Kang Kang 康康
Next up, Kang Kang 康康, who is Jia Jia’s son, born in 2019 making him 6 years old on my visit – I have to say, I would have said he was older, I don’t think he looks that young. Much like Xue Bao, he was pretty active for most of the day, but I did spot him having an afternoon nap for a few hours! He didn’t have as many climbing frames in his yard, but I got there at a perfect time and got to watch him working on that leg strength by reaching up on top of the frame to get his treats of carrots and bamboo shoots. At the end of the day he was definitely seeming a bit tired, after some bamboo on this seat/bed on the left side of the yard, he was keen to go into his inside space but the door was closed, it was also quite busy at this time so I think he was maybe a little done with the crowds.
Being born and raised in Shanghai Wild Animal Park means there are also lots of photos online of him growing up. And as I mentioned, you can also see the resemblance between him and mum Jia Jia. The above painted sign (which I think looks beautiful, I love that they had these for the pandas!) says he inherited his mum’s face and his dad’s long legs – I’m not sure who his dad is though! The below very cute birthday sign also says his nickname as a youngster was ‘little chubby’^
Qi Qi 七七
The final panda I saw was Qi Qi – and she sure was elusive! She had several other visitors waiting by her yard all day waiting for her to come outside! She was only visible in her outdoor yard, and she was the only panda who seemed to always have the choice of being on show or not, the door to the back off show den was always open. And she definitely took advantage of that – I saw her a handful of times, always coming out, spending several minutes outside, and then going back in. But I’m very grateful for the time she chose to spend outside because she sure is cute – she has such a round fluffy adorable face and I really love her^ She also seemed to prefer the afternoon and she did spend a bit of time with an enrichment basket trying to dig out all the treats from inside – so cute! Her sign says she is lively and playful, and she is good at using her enrichment balls, which is something I did get to see, see loved working out the best way to get into the basket-ball to get her treats^
Qi Qi was 7 years old when I saw her, and alike the other youngsters, she was also born at the Shanghai Wild Animal Park, and thus there are lots of pictures of her online growing up. Her mum is Gong Zhu – who is quite famous in the panda world. She has had many cubs over the years, I’ve seen 2003-born Jun Zhu at Dujiangyan Panda Base in May 2024 and 2007-born Zhu Ling at Dujiangyan Panda Base in February 2025, and I’ve ‘seen’ the pair of them, plus Zhu Ling’s twin, in the Trail of the Panda movie! Her other children which may be familiar to many of us include Bi Li who was the male who lived at Ueno Zoo and Wu Wen who is the female who lives at Ouwehands Dierenpark and is now a mother of 2 herself! Seriously, what a panda family^
