The second pandas I saw at Chongqing Zoo were Xing Xing 星星 and Chen Chen 辰辰- they are male twins and were born in 2021, making them 3.5 years old on my visit – as I post this they have just celebrated their 4th birthday and received a beautiful ‘cake’ of bamboo and fruits, the photos of them enjoying it were so lovely! These two are the offspring of the second (twin) pregnancy of Mang Zai (who I saw next), and their older siblings are Xi Xi and Qing Qing, part of the famous quartet of pandas here at Chongqing Zoo^

These two were playful and active almost the entire day. When I got there first thing in the morning they were playing together all over the yard – it’s a very nice one with lots of different climbing elements to it and they were sure making use of all of them. I especially liked the log ladder, it sure takes some skill for a panda to climb up there, particularly when your brother is trying to pull you down and get on himself! Just so many great interactions to see and they were very popular with the crowds because of it. The best moments however were when they were served their bamboo shoots at their table and they sat in their chairs to eat – ok, there was a back-paw on the table too, but it was absolutely adorable to see them sitting all nice and enjoying their snack – a top panda viewing moment for me. And the debris left behind when they were done was hilarious, bits of discarded bamboo everywhere!