Opposites attract (hopefully) as new pandas settle into new life at Adelaide Zoo

Giant Pandas, Xing qui and Yi Lan, have settled into their new home at Adelaide Zoo’s Bamboo Forest with staff and volunteers reporting the pair have distinctly different personalities.

About 47,000 people have visited the Zoo since Xing qui and Yi Lan arrived, replacing longtime residents Wang Wang and Fu-ni who have now returned China.

Adelaide Zoo’s involvement in the Giant Panda program with China has contributed to an amazing turn around in the animals fortunes, with 1864 now ranging across a 23,000 square kilometre area spanning six major mountain ranges.

This has seen the Giant Panda’s ‘endangered’ conservation status upgraded to ‘vulnerable’ due to ongoing efforts to rewild them.

The pair, who have called South Australia home for three months now, are said to have quite distinct personalities.

Yi Lam, the female, is more active and inquisitive and has been entertaining visitors as she enthusiastically explores her new home.

Xing qui is said to be less active and more enthusiastic about food, particularly when escaping Adelaide’s hot spell in his air conditioned day room.

The new arrivals provide a major visitor boost for Adelaide Zoo, the city and state. Xing Qiu (shing chee-y-ull) was born in 2020 while Yi Lan (ee-lun) in 2021.

The South Australian Government has worked closely with the Commonwealth Government, Zoos SA and their Chinese counterparts to ensure the pandas had a smooth transition into the country.

The pandas were offered by the Chinese Premier, Mr Li Qiang, during a visit to the Adelaide Zoo in June last year, the first such visit to Australia by a Chinese Premier since 2017.

Quotes

Attributable to Susan Close

South Australians should be proud that our participation in the Giant Panda program which has helped to bring this unique species back from the brink.

While now listed as vulnerable, there is more work to be done to ensure Giant Pandas continue to exist on our planet and Adelaide Zoo is at the forefront of this massive conservation effort.

Xing qui and Yi Lan give visitors to the Bamboo Forest an insight into these curious and adorable animals that once ranged through southern and eastern China, northern Vietnam and parts of Myanmar.

Attributable to Zoe Bettison

We are so pleased to see our new pair of giant pandas settling in so well here in Adelaide and ecstatic that their arrival and presence at the Adelaide Zoo has delighted intrastate, interstate and international visitors while helping conservationists learn more about this vulnerable species.

Pandas are an absolutely iconic species, loved by the world over and the feeling of seeing them up close is something visitors treasure when they come to Adelaide and visit the Adelaide Zoo.

We are also incredibly grateful to China for sharing the new giant panda couple with us and offering us the unique opportunity to gain a better understanding of pandas living in the Southern Hemisphere.

As the only two pandas in Australia, and in the Southern hemisphere, Xing Qiu and Yi Lan are now tourism drawcards for our state giving visitors from interstate and overseas another reason to visit South Australia.