So the National Zoo is losing it's baby panda today. Tai Shan has been at The Smithsonian Zoo for 4 years. He was only supposed to be on loan from China for 2 years, but his stay was postponed. And today he will climb aboard a FedEx plane and fly to China. Which is pretty sad, pandas are a major attraction. There are only 13 pandas living in 4 zoos in the US right now. And only 1,600 living in the wild in China. Wow, I did not realize how endangered they are until just now! How sad. They are adorable too!!
UPDATE: According to my sister, my grandpa actually suggested the name for Tai Shan! (He's pretty much a big deal in the Chinese community here in DC). Following a Chinese tradition, panda cubs are not named until they are 100 days old. In fall 2005, the National Zoo announced that the cub's name would be chosen through an Internet poll. And apparently, my grandpa suggested Tai Shan which means peaceful mountain, and it won! I'll confirm and possibly re-update later! haha
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that is sad! When I was a kid and lived in VA I used to love going to the zoo to see the pandas, they are the cutest! :)
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