Zoo Atlanta throws birthday bash for 23-year-old giant panda Yang Yang
Zoo Atlanta made a special “cake” for Yang Yang to celebrate his 23rd birthday on Sept. 9, 2020. (Zoo Atlanta)
ATLANTA - One of Zoo Atlanta’s resident giant pandas celebrated his 23rd birthday on Wednesday in the best possible way.
Yang Yang celebrated with large ice “cake” filled with bamboo leaves and scented with Yang Yang’s two favorite scents: Tabasco and Listerine. It was specially created by the zoo’s Giant Panda Care Team.
“Other panda-perfect prizes included two smaller ice treats shaped into the numerals 2 and 3; a ‘candle’ made of sugarcane and topped with sweet potatoes; and a birthday box full of leafeater biscuits,” the zoo wrote in a release about the birthday celebration.
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The past two weeks have been filled with panda birthdays. Yang Yang’s female counterpart, Lun Lun, turned 23 on Aug. 25, and his twin daughters, Ya Lun and Xi Lun turned 4 on Sept. 3.
The zoo is open to the public again with new safety measures, but the celebration was also broadcasted on the zoo’s PandaCam that can be found at zooatlanta.org.
Yang Yang enjoys his special birthday “cake” created by Zoo Atlanta on Sept. 9, 2020. (Zoo Atlanta)
Atlanta is honored to host one of the three zoos in the United States to house the giant pandas. Fewer than 1,900 are in the wild in China while more than 1,200 live inside nature reserves. Zoo Atlanta supports eight of those reserves and has contributed more than $10 million in support of conservation effort.
We wish Yang Yang many happy returns!
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