Giant pandas celebrate their birthday with giant ice cake

On Tuesday giant pandas Xing Ya and Wu Wen celebrated their 4th birthday in the Ouwehands zoo in Rhenen. To celebrate, the zoo gave each of them a giant birthday 'cake'.

Xing Ya's cake consisted of frozen water, beetroot juice, carrots and apples. The top layer was decorated with four candles made from bamboo and carrots. Wu Wen's cake was made from carrot juice and fruit. Both pandas seemed to enjoy their cakes, both in taste and as a new toy to play with.

Tuesday was not the pandas' actual birthday. Male Xing Ya's birthday was on August 5th and female Wu Wen's birthday is coming up on August 11th. The zoo decided to celebrate the birthdays together on 8th day of the 8th month, as the number 8 is a lucky number in Chinese culture. In the Chinese language the word for the number 8 is similar to the word for prosperity and wealth, according to the zoo.