Giant Panda Celebrates Second Birthday At San Diego Zoo (VIDEO)
Giant pandas may be endangered in the wild, but this guy's only concern was having too much fun with his birthday cake.
Yun Zi is a giant panda at the San Diego Zoo who celebrated his second birthday in early August. Zookeepers gave him a special cake made out of ice with some of his favorite fruits and vegetables.
According to SanDiego.com, the San Diego Zoo is “one of only four zoos in the United States which house and displays giant pandas and is the most successful program with regards to panda reproduction.”
The Zoo has bred four other panda cubs, which have all been sent to China as part of a twelve year research loan program that took “years of prolonged negotiations and mountains of paperwork” to set up.
Giant pandas, which are native to China, are threatened with extinction. The Associated Press explains that this is due to a loss of habitat, poaching and poor breeding abilities. AFP reports that giant pandas may become extinct in two or three generations.
The National Zoo in Washington, D.C. has an adult female giant panda, but she has failed for five years in a row to give the zoo a cub.
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First Posted: 08/19/11 10:58 AM ET Updated: 10/19/11 06:12 AM ET