The next area to share is the Leopard Mountain – this area has 5 yards, however I would say that generally 4 of them are trickier to see. 3 are set on a pretty steep mountain-side, and while there are a couple of viewing platforms, you are quite far from the pandas and still don’t get a great viewing angle. The other 2 have flatter viewing options but the yards are still hilly, so you can’t see a lot of them, and they are only viewed through glass windows – Xiang Xiang lives in one of these yards and I saw her last time, as is pretty standard there were a lot of Japanese fans there on this visit and I didn’t see her at all. But I did see pandas in all the other yards, albeit some from very far away:
Yi Bin 伊滨 + Yi Ren 伊人
First up I saw Yi Bin 伊滨 and Yi Ren 伊人, 2021-born twins who I saw here last year very much in the same positions! This is the trickiest yard to see into, there is a small round viewing window, although it was quite dirty to look through when I was there, and while the platform is high enough up to see the whole yard, the pandas always seem to choose the furthest spot from it. In the first picture below you can see another platform, however this is staff only. These 2 seemed to spend their whole day sleeping on the muddy hillside – although I didn’t spent a lot of time in this area, so perhaps dedication is needed to see some action from these guys! At 3.5 years old these two might be separated from each other soon given that they are a male-female pair. Their mum is Qiao Yi, unfortunately I can’t find any information about her at all.
Jin Shan 金山 + Cub
Next up I saw Jin Shan 金山 and her 2023-born male cub, who is now named Jia Le 嘉乐. I saw these two at the Wolong base last year, although saw almost none of Jin Shan and most of Jia Le – it was a little the same on this visit! In the morning Jin Shan was enjoying a nap while Jia Le ate bamboo. Then in the afternoon when I went past again at first I didn’t see either of them, then when I was viewing their neighbours, my eye caught a white slither of fur high up in a tree and I found Jia Le there! It was such a high tree and he was right at the top, to see him climb up or down from there would have been amazing, but it’s very fitting to how I saw him the first time – adventurous and climbing =)
Ying Hua 瑛华 + Cubs
I also saw Ying Hua 瑛华 and her twin male cubs, Hua Bao Bei 华宝贝 and Fu Jiang 福将(although the sign only has the name for one), in this yard last year, but didn’t really get a good look at them at all – it was similar this year, they preferred a high up spot on a flat section where all the bamboo was, which was very difficult to see based on where the viewing options were. The cubs were born in 2022, making them 2.5 years old on this visit, but from the view I had I couldn’t tell who was who in the photos – although I did see all 3 pandas!
Ying Hua is now 21 years old and is an experienced mother, it’s likely that these cubs will be her last. She spent some of her younger years living at Beijing Zoo and gave birth there for the first time – the surviving cub is Da Bai Tu, who I also saw on this trip as a mother herself. She is also the mum of Fu Tao and Fu Lin who live in the White Bear Ground and I saw both this year and last year. And her half-sister is one of her neighbours, Xian Nü, whose photos are later down this post.
Ying Hua raised a 3rd cub with these twins, this was Bo Si‘s daughter Qing Ci 青糍. Another small world-moment, Bo Si is Edinburgh Zoo‘s Tian Tian‘s daughter, making Qing Ci Tian Tian‘s granddaughter. Sadly Qing Ci passed away in early 2024 which was a real shame to hear.
Xian Nü 仙女
The final panda I saw in this area was Xian Nü 仙女, luckily she is in one of the more visible yards, being Xiang Xiang‘s neighbour, which is super special because she is Xiang Xiang‘s mum! Xian Nü is now 19 years old and lived in Toyko Ueno Zoo between February 2011 and September 2024, giving birth in 2017 to Xiang Xiang and in 2021 to twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei. Now she has returned to China. She is a very cute panda, and was very happy sitting out enjoying her bamboo – it was interesting that even though she was sat out eating in perfect view in front of the window, the Japanese fans really were only interested in waiting for Xiang Xiang (who wasn’t outside). I however enjoyed my peaceful viewing of Xian Nü^
