Taipei Zoo welcomes two red pandas from Shanghai

Taipei, June 6 (CNA) Two red pandas from China's Shanghai Zoo have safely arrived in Taiwan and are currently undergoing a month-long quarantine, Taipei Zoo said on Saturday.

The red pandas were given to Taipei Zoo under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed at the 2024 Shanghai-Taipei City Forum.

The red pandas arrived in Taiwan early Saturday following a handover ceremony which took place in Shanghai Zoo on Friday.

Both animals were in good health upon their arrival, Taipei Zoo said in a news release, adding that the 3-year-old male panda soon began exploring his quarantine room before helping himself to some feed.

The 2-year-old female red panda, meanwhile, has a more cautious nature, Taipei Zoo said, as it displayed vigilance and timidity when exploring its new enclosure.

Taipei Zoo said the two red pandas will be transferred to the zoo's Temperate Zone Animal Area after their month-long quarantine.

The red pandas will then have their public debut once they become accustomed to their new habitat, the zoo said.

Taipei Zoo noted that the red panda is listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, with wild populations declining due to illegal hunting and habitat loss.

The zoo previously said the red pandas in its breeding program all come from three family lines, to ensure there are new bloodlines, which are essential to sustain a healthy population and preserve genetic diversity for long-term conservation of the animals.

In return for the pandas, Taipei Zoo will send white-handed gibbons, which are indigenous to Southeast Asia, to Shanghai Zoo.

Originally, Taiwan was to give Shanghai African penguins as part of the MOU, but with Shanghai's African penguin breeding program progressing well on its own, white-handed gibbons were selected as a substitute, though the number of gibbons to be sent has not been specified.