'57-Year-Old' Hong Kong Panda Gives Birth at Record Age Ahead of 19th Birthday

A female giant panda named Ying Ying, who is about to turn 19 years old in Hong Kong, has made headlines by successfully giving birth for the first time. This is the oldest recorded birth for a panda.

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 16th (local time), Ying Ying, a female panda who came from China in 2007 and resides at the theme park Ocean Park Hong Kong, gave birth to male and female twins the day before her 19th birthday. Considering that the lifespan of pandas is about 20 years in the wild and up to 30 years in captivity, Ying Ying’s birth is equivalent to giving birth at about 57 years old in human age. SCMP stated, "With this, Ying Ying has become the oldest female panda in the world to successfully give birth."

Twin pandas born to Ying Ying in Hong Kong.
[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Ying Ying is a panda who came to Hong Kong from China in 2007 along with a male panda named Le Le. Ying Ying had repeatedly failed to conceive but succeeded in natural pregnancy for the first time last March. Ocean Park kept Ying Ying’s pregnancy a secret and only announced the news about 24 hours after the birth.

According to Ocean Park, Ying Ying’s water broke at 10 p.m. on the 14th, and after more than five hours of labor pains, she gave birth to female and male twins at around 2 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. the next day, respectively.

John Lee, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, said, "It is very meaningful that this year, which marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the panda gave birth to twins." He expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for gifting the pandas, to Ocean Park Hong Kong for taking good care of them, and to the Chinese panda conservation authorities who helped with Ying Ying’s birth.

China plans to gift an additional pair of pandas to Hong Kong this year to commemorate the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s sovereignty return to China. According to SCMP, Kevin Yeung, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, is currently in Sichuan Province to receive the pandas. The pair of pandas gifted by China is expected to arrive in Hong Kong around September 26, a few days before the National Day (October 1), which celebrates the founding of China.

Meanwhile, pandas are considered a symbol of China. China has practiced "panda diplomacy," sending pandas as gifts or loans to countries with friendly relations. Since the 1990s, China has cooperated with 26 institutions in 20 countries, including the United States, Spain, Japan, and France, for panda conservation.

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