'Everland Baby Panda Pubao's First Birthday Party Held Online'

Everland's baby panda Pubao celebrates its first birthday.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyewon] 'Fubao (female)', the first baby panda born in Korea, celebrated her first birthday on the 20th, marking one year since her birth.

Everland, operated by Samsung C&T Resort Division, announced that it held an online first birthday party for Fubao at Panda World on the morning of the same day.

Due to strengthened quarantine measures, the online birthday party was held without inviting general customers, with only some zoo staff attending before Panda World opened. The birthday party, which included a doljabi (first birthday grab), birthday congratulatory letters, and gift presentations, was broadcast live to customers via the Everland YouTube channel.

Everland's baby panda Pubao celebrates its first birthday.

The Highlight of the Online Birthday Party: Doljabi Event

Just like human first birthday parties, a doljabi event was held to predict how Fubao will grow. Four foods, each with a symbolic meaning?carrot (health), bamboo (longevity), apple (popularity), and mantou (happiness), a type of bread pandas eat?were prepared in the Panda World enclosure.

After the doljabi, a child who voiced Fubao in the Everland YouTube video read a birthday congratulatory letter, and the keepers presented a wooden slide carefully prepared for Fubao as a gift.

To celebrate her first birthday, a photo essay book titled "Baby Panda Fubao," containing stories and photos of her growth over the past year, was also published and revealed for the first time on this day.

This photo essay was written by keeper Kang Cheolwon, who has been with Fubao since her birth and growth, and features photos taken by photographer Ryu Junghoon, who is in charge of photography at Everland.

The book contains various stories, from the mysterious moment of the first baby panda born in Korea to the touching moments observed up close of the mother panda’s maternal love as she carefully cared for her baby despite being inexperienced, and Fubao growing into a playful youngster, along with previously unreleased photos.

In addition to the photo essay, keeper Kang Cheolwon’s stories about baby panda Fubao’s growth can also be found in the "Baby Panda Diary" series currently being serialized on the Everland blog.

Fubao’s Weight Increased from '197g to 40kg', Over 200 Times in One Year

Born on July 20, 2020, at Everland Panda World, baby panda Fubao was just 16.5 cm long and weighed 197g at birth. She now weighs about 40kg, which is more than 200 times her birth weight.

Recently, she has become strong enough to easily climb to the top of trees by herself and has started tasting bamboo and bamboo shoots in addition to her main diet of mother’s milk, growing healthily according to her developmental stage.

An Everland Zoo official said, "The reason Fubao is growing up healthy is thanks to the dedicated care of the keepers and the maternal love of her mother, Aibao, who is naturally nursing her. Like other pandas, Fubao is expected to be fully weaned from mother’s milk and switch to bamboo as her main diet between one year and one and a half years of age."

Not only Fubao but also her mother Aibao (July 13), father Lubao (July 28), and keeper Kang Cheolwon (July 18) all have birthdays in July, and a special event offering various panda merchandise at discounted prices is ongoing until the end of July at the Naver 'Everland Online Store.'

Pandas have a breeding season that lasts only 1 to 3 days once a year, usually in spring around March to April. If mating is successful, the pregnancy lasts about four months, and most pandas give birth around July to August.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.