Next up is the only panda that I saw in the No6 Villa, Yun Wu 韵武. He was born in 2018, making him almost 6 years old on my visit – it’s likely I saw him in 2018 in the kindergarten on my trip that year. There’s not much information about him online at all, but he has a twin sister, Yun Wen, and there are a lot of cute videos online of them and their peers as little cubs which are super sweet. What I really wanted to share in these photos is the really nice example of scent marking in the final two photos – even though it was towards the end of May, it’s still the last part of the breeding season, and while at 6 he may not be fully mature, he’s clearly showing starting signs of maturity. I’ve never been able to get good pictures of a male scent marking/hand standing and peeing on a tree before, so this is exciting for the panda reproductive scientist in me!

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:

Moving from the No1 Villa to the No2 Villa, I didn’t see any pandas outside in this house when I went, but luckily indoor viewing was open to see 4 of the 2022-born cubs who are living together – Ai Si 艾斯 and Ai Lun 艾琳, who are twins of Ai Li, 艾莉 and Chao Chao 吵吵 and Nao Nao 闹闹, who are twins of Er Qiao 二巧. These four were almost 2 years old when I saw them, honestly such a cute age to see pandas because they’re so playful and fun and have great interactions with each other. I went in and saw these guys on both days and at different times, each visit there were always one or two sleeping and the others were eating or interacting with each other. They have a good selection of climbing frames for climbing and sleeping on and they really were making good use of them all. The bamboo shoots were mostly done by the time of my visits, that would have been very cute to see as no doubt they would have all been tussling for the best ones! They were a very popular quartet and there was always a crowd viewing them – the indoor viewing is a bit tricky because the glass is quite reflective, I found it tricky to get the optimal spot where there was no reflection but also good for angles of the pandas.

Online it says that Ai Si is becoming a bit of a star at the base, there’s lots of baby pictures of him online and I have to say he looks extra cute^ I also read that Nao Nao has quite a distinctive look, with tear-drop eye patches that are wider at the top and narrow at the bottom, and her nose is also flatter than typical – unfortunately I didn’t get a clear picture of all 4 cubs’ faces so I can’t really tell which panda is which, but perhaps an expert panda identifier can point this out! Perhaps the panda alone in the below pictures looks like it has a slightly flatter nose, so perhaps this is Nao Nao?!