Get ready to have a “panda-tastic” time at Zoo Negara!
After nearly 3 months growing behind-the-scenes, the giant panda cub of Xing Xing (father) and Liang Liang (mother) is finally ready to meet the public from Tuesday (17th November) onwards.
On 16th November (Monday), National Zoo’s deputy president Rosly@Rahmat Ahmat Lana told reporters that visitors can meet the adorable panda cub from 2:30pm to 3:30pm daily.
“We are fully prepared to control the situation if too many visitors came at one time,” he said, adding that they’ve prepped everything following the much-awaited exhibition.
Currently weighing at 5.6kg, the baby panda has become quite the talk of the town since it was born in August this year. It hasn’t been given a name yet, but Malaysians are invited to pitch ideas for its name via a national naming contest. Acccording to Rosly, it is now able to crawl and walk, but still inactive.
A regular visitor of the National Zoo, Nizrul Khalid was quoted as saying that both he and his 3-year-old daughter were thrilled and could not wait to see the cub. “My daughter has imagined that the panda cub looks like her teddy bear…I want to take her to see for herself the differences between those 2 animals,” the 37-year-old father said.
Artikah Jaafar a big fan of giant pandas and the 26-year-old has apparently been following the news of the giant panda pair since their arrival in Malaysia. She was quoted stating that she was very happy that the cub would be meeting the public from Tuesday. “I will be among the earliest visitors to view the baby panda tomorrow,” she said cheerfully.
You better plan a trip to the zoo soon because the cub will be returned to China after its 2nd birthday.
UPDATE (18th November, 9:30am):
Some lucky Zoo Negara visitors were amongst the first to meet the yet-to-be-named baby panda yesterday! The adorable panda is much larger now as compared to its last known pictures, and super cute 🙂
It made is official debut at Zoo Negara yesterday (17th November, Tuesday).
Visitors can meet the adorable panda cub from 2:30pm to 3:30pm daily.
Its parents Xing Xing and Liang Liang will remain here for 10 years based on the Malaysia-China Giant Panda International Conservation Agreement.
Earlier known as Fu Wa and Feng Yi, the panda pair arrived in Malaysia on 21st May last year as a symbol of 40 years of diplomatic relations between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing. They also gave Malaysia an opportunity to conduct panda-related conversation research.
For more information, visit Zoo Negara Malaysia’s website or Facebook page.
Source: The Malay Mail Online.
