Panda cub will be taken from Dutch zoo and sent to China

Fan Xing, a panda cub born in Ouwehands Zoo in 2020, will move to China in the autumn. The young animal could have stayed in Rhenen for another two years, but in the wild giant pandas also leave their mother in the second year of life. Ouwehands wants the animals to lead as natural a life as possible and is therefore already removing the young panda from its mother. In addition, the park hopes that mother Wu Wen will become pregnant again after her cub left.

Wu Wen, father Xing Ya, and cub Fan Xing are on loan from China to the Ouwehands Zoo. Wu Wen and Xing Ya will live in Rhenen for 15 years. The cubs they have may stay at the Rhenen zoo for a maximum of four years and must then be returned o the breeding center in China. Giant pandas are only found in China in the wild. The breeding program is successful because the animal is no longer considered endangered but is still vulnerable.

Giant pandas live in solitary. They only seek each other out to mate. Fan Xing will be looking to find his own way in the breeding center's forest for the next two years. Pandas sexually mature around the fourth year of life. Fan Xing will then enter a reproductive program. There may be a new panda cub in Ouwehands Zoo by then. The zoo will start with preparations for mating after Fan Xing's departure. That's a complicated job since female pandas are only fertile for one to three days a year. It is only at birth that it is determined whether mating was successful.