ATLANTA — Happy Birthday, Yang Yang the giant panda!
Zoo Atlanta reports Yang Yang turned 23 on Sept. 9, 2020. The milestone was documented in a video montage celebrating the panda patriarch.
The furry friend joined the Giant Panda Care Team at Zoo Atlanta, which created a large ice “cake” filled with bamboo leaves and scented with Yang Yang’s two favorite scents: Tabasco and Listerine. Yum!
The birthday bash continued with other panda-perfect prizes, which included two smaller ice treats shaped into the numerals 2 and 3; a “candle” made of sugarcane and topped with sweet potatoes; and a birthday box full of leafeater biscuits.
According to Zoo Atlanta, Yang Yang’s birthday marks the tail end of giant panda "birthday season" at the zoo, concluding two weeks of celebrations for the black-and-white bears.
We’re sending a happy belated birthday to Yang Yang’s female counterpart, Lun Lun, who also turned 23 on Aug. 25, and his twin daughters, Ya Lun and Xi Lun, turned 4 on Sept. 3.
Zoo Atlanta is one of only three zoos in the U.S. to house giant pandas, which are important ambassadors for a species that faces numerous threats in the wild, despite its high profile.
Fewer than 1,900 giant pandas are estimated to remain in the wild in China’s Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces, a rep tells 11Alive.
Want to keep up with Atlanta’s family of pandas? Check out zoo’s giant panda program and live camera feed here via PandaCam.
Although Yang Yang’s birthday party was celebrated viturally this year, Zoo Atlanta is open daily with new protocols and procedures in place to promote wellness and prevent the spread of COVID-19.