It costs zoos a million dollars a year to host a Chinese panda. Tokyo Zoo has three and they’re treated as VIPs.
They’re also diplomats, as China views its pandas as “special envoys” to countries like Japan. Duncan Bartlett considers the diplomatic implications if one of Tokyo’s star attractions, Shin Shin, has another cub this summer.
A new issue has risen to the top of the political agenda in Tokyo: is the giant panda Xiang Xiang soon to be joined by a sibling?
Xiang Xiang lives at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo and this summer, the city’s governor, Yuriko Koike, announced that the cub’s mother, Shin Shin, is showing signs of pregnancy.
It is fortunate that pandas are tolerant of press intrusion into their private lives, as the sexual behaviour of Shin Shin and her partner Ri Ri has been reported all over the world, including on the BBC, Russia Today, Arab News, Bloomberg and The Economist.
The media inform us that Shin Shin began to show signs of heat on March 4th, and was found mating with Ri Ri, on March 6th.
Shielded from view
Shin Shin’s been out of the public eye since then and has not been seen since the zoo recently reopened, following the easing of coronavirus restrictions.
NHK used its briefing with China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, to address the issue.