Say hello to Nuan Nuan everyone!
The giant baby panda who was born in Zoo Negara 7 months ago finally has a name. The name Nuan Nuan was selected out of a pool of 22,830 entries submitted by the public in a national naming contest which ran from 17th November to 17th December last year.
Nuan Nuan was chosen as it best exemplified the diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China. “Nuan Nuan means friendliness. This reflects our relationship with China. Interestingly, Nuan Nuan is used by certain tribes in Sarawak to mean ‘you’. In Iban,” said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
In 2012, Malaysia and China signed an agreement for 2 giant pandas to be loaned to Kuala Lumpur for 10 years. The pandas from Chengdu in China would not only give Malaysia an opportunity to conduct panda-related conversation research but also mark Malaysia and China’s 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties.
The baby female giant panda was born on 18th August 2015 to parents Xing Xing and Liang Liang. She was first exhibited at the national Zoo on 17th November after 3 months of quarantine. Her birth last year marked a successful milestone in Malaysia’s new panda breeding programme.
For more information, visit Zoo Negara Malaysia’s website or Facebook page.
Sources: The Star, Malaysian Digest, The Sun.
