Giant Pandas
Adventure World
Wakayama has proved a surprisingly conducive environment for raising giant pandas. The giant panda Ei Mei arrived at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture in 1994. He was joined by Mei Mei in 2000. Since then Mei Mei has given birth to 5 cubs, an impressive number for an endangered species with a notoriously low birthrate. There are now 6 giant pandas at Adventure World compared to 3 in the rest of Japan.
Even more impressive are Mei Mei’s parenting skills. Baby pandas are exceptionally small and helpless and require the mother’s undivided attention. For this reason when a mother gives birth to two cubs she usually abandons one to focus on raising the other. But after Mei Mei gave birth to Ryu Hin and Shu Hin in 2003 she successfully raised both of them, to the great surprise of Chinese giant panda specialists.
By Julian Richards