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| Dead Pandas are everywhere. |
As much as people gush over the lazy, impotent creatures, it is suprisingly difficult to find complete information on pandas that have died in captivity. While this list is of famous dead pandas, like Hsing Hsing, there are many many more nameless dead pandas out there.
It is particularly interesting to note that extraordinary measures are taken to prolong the lives of obviously dying pandas that have lived way beyond their average life expectancy, as is seen below in the accompanying articles with the more recent Dead Pandas. While old panda lives are valued and revered, old human lives are often considered a nuisance while family members attempt to end their lives sooner. Rather than be given extraordinary measures, old humans with the same ailments as the ancient pandas are given large doses of morphine until they expire.
| Dead Panda | Year of Death |
Place of Death | Cause of Death |
| Xiang Xiang | 2007 |
China | fight with wild pandas |
| Yan Yan | 2007 |
Berlin Zoo | constipation |
| Qin Qin | 2006 |
northwest China | pulmonary edema |
| Mei Mei | 2005 |
Guilin Zoo, southern China | old age |
| Pei Pei | 2004 |
eastern China | organ failure |
| Changchang | 2002 |
Jinan zoo | old age |
| Dan Dan | 2000 |
Xi'an Zoo | cellular cancer |
| Yan Yan (Yen Yen) | 2000 |
Zoological Park of Paris, France | |
| Hsing Hsing | 1999 |
National Zoological Park, Washington D.C. | put to sleep |
| triplet cub (no name) | 1999 |
Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Centre | bladder disorder |
| Dudu (Dou Dou) | 1999 |
A zoo in Wuhan | epilepsy |
| Zhai Zhai | 1999 |
Tianjin zoo | kidney failure |
| Shasha | 1998 |
A zoo in Taiyuanin | heart attack |
| Qiang Qiang | 1998 |
A panda breeding centre in Chengdu | old age |
| Ling Ling | 1992 |
National Zoological Park, Washington D.C. | heart failure |
| Lan Tian | 1990 |
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| Ying Ying | 1989 |
Chapultepec Zoo, Mexico | |
| Pe Pe | 1988 |
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| Zhen Zhen | 1985 |
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| Tian Tian | 1984 |
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| Shao Shao | 1983 |
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| Kang Kang | 1980 |
Ueno Zoo, Tokyo, Japan | |
| Lan Lan | 1979 |
Ueno Zoo, Tokyo, Japan | |
| Jing Jing (Ching Ching) | 1975 |
London Zoo, Great Britain | |
| Li Li | 1974 |
Zoological Park of Paris, France | |
| An An | 1972 |
Moskovskii Zoological Park (Moscow Zoo) | |
| Ji Ji (Chi Chi) | 1972 |
London Zoo, Great Britain | |
| Ping Ping | 1961 |
Moskovskii Zoological Park (Moscow Zoo) | |
| Mei Lan | 1953 |
Brookfield Zoo, Chicago | |
| Bao Bei (Pao Pei) | 1952 |
St. Louis | |
| Panda (Pan Dah) | 1951 |
Bronx Zoo, New York | |
| Pandora | 1951 |
Bronx Zoo, New York | |
| Lien Ho | 1950 |
London Zoo, Great Britain | |
| Happy | 1946 |
St. Louis | |
| Pandi (Pan Dee) | 1945 |
Bronx Zoo, New York | |
| Ming | 1944 |
London, Zoo, Great Britain | |
| Mei Mei | 1942 |
Brookfield Zoo, Chicago | |
| Pan | 1940 |
Bronx Zoo, New York | |
| Tang | 1940 |
London, Zoo, Great Britain | |
| Sung | 1939 |
London, Zoo, Great Britain | |
| Nai Nai (Grandma) | 1939 |
London, Zoo, Great Britain | |
| Su Lin | 1938 |
Brookfield Zoo, Chicago | |
| Jennie | 1937 |
At sea |
May 31, 2007: Freed Chinese panda dies in wild
The first Chinese panda released into the wild after being bred in captivity has died, Chinese media has announced.
Xiang Xiang was released in April 2006 from the Wolong Giant Panda Research Centre and was said to be adjusting well to his new life.
But the five-year-old was found dead in February. Officials said his death was likely due to a fight with wild pandas.
Xiang Xiang's death is a set back for China's efforts to increase the number of giant pandas in the wild.
Giant pandas are one of the world's most endangered species. Only about 1,600 remain in the wild, with another 200 living in captivity.
'Lessons to learn'
Before his release, Xiang Xiang spent three years in a special training compound at the research centre in Sichuan province to prepare him for a natural habitat.
Last year, experts there said he appeared to be integrating into the area's wild panda population.
But he was briefly taken back to the centre in December for treatment after a fight with other pandas.
"We chose Xiang Xiang because we thought that a strong male panda would have a better chance of surviving in the harsh natural environment," Xinhua news agency quoted the reserve's deputy director Li Desheng as saying.
"But the other male pandas clearly saw Xiang Xiang as a threat."
Officials suggested that Xiang Xiang, whose injuries included broken ribs, had fallen from a high place after a fight with other pandas over food or territory.
Zhang Hemin, head of the centre, said that they would continue to release pandas into the wild.
"We are all sad about Xiang Xiang, but it doesn't mean the project has failed," he said.
"The lessons we have learnt from what happened to Xiang Xiang will help us adapt and improve the project."
The delay in reporting Xiang Xiang's death was because of the need for a full investigation, Xinhua quoted officials as saying.
From BBC News
March 27, 2007: BERLIN ZOO IN MOURNING
OVER YAN YAN
Panda Death Dampens Joy over Knut
Berlin
Zoo's delight over its superstar Knut has been tempered by the sudden death
of lady Panda Yan Yan -- long one of its major attractions. Her passing initially
triggered speculation that the attention surrounding the baby polar bear was
too much for her. But vets said she died of constipation.
Berlin Zoo is in mourning following the surprise death of 22-year-old lady Panda Yan Yan, whose name means "The Cute One." She was found on Monday afternoon after alarmed visitors reported her lying motionless in her outdoor enclosure where she liked to roll around in the sand and lazily munch on bamboo shoots.
A post mortem showed that she died of heart failure caused by acute constipation, zoo vet Andreas Ochs told the Associated Press. There had been no signs that Yan Yan had been in any pain so it had been impossible to detect that she was constipated, he added.
Pandas can live more than 30 years. Berlin zoo's other Panda, Bao Bao, is 29 and going strong. Yan Yan is being kept in a refrigerated room while officials decide what to do with her. Technically she still belongs to China, which loaned her to the zoo in 1995.
The zoo could not immediately be reached for comment on media speculation that Yan Yan had been stressed by the overwhelming number of visitors to Berlin Zoo since unfeasibly cute polar bear cub Knut went on show to the public last Friday.
Some 30,000 people crowded the zoo at the weekend, several times more than usual, and many who couldn't get a glimpse of Knut went over to check out Yan Yan.
Following the worldwide success of Knut, whose first public appearance was witnessed by about 300 journalists from around the world and broadcast live on CNN, the death of Yan Yan marks something of an emotional rollercoaster for the zoo.
"On the one hand Knut, who enthralls everyone. And now the death of Yan Yan. It's terrible -- joy and sorrow are so close together," the zoo's bear expert Heiner Klös told Bild newspaper.
When Yan Yan arrived at the zoo in 1995, after a flight from Beijing on which she was accompanied by Berlin's then-mayor Eberhard Diepgen, she had received almost as much attention as Knut, one zoo official recalled.
The zoo had hoped she would produce offspring but she never did. Yan Yan didn't get on well with Bao Bao, and repeated attempts at artificial insemination failed.
The zoo abandoned its Panda cub project two years ago but zookeepers and visitors had long since grown fond of Yan Yan, who liked to pad slowly around her enclosure and often ate bamboo while lying on her back.
Knut mania
Was Yan Yan heartbroken at all the attention that darned polar bear cub has been getting next door? Knut's fame continues to grow. The zoo has run out of stuffed Knut bears after selling all 2,400 of them and now plans to order up to 10,000 more from China. Whether even that will be enough is to be doubted.
A song dedicated to him, "Knut ist gut," goes on release on March 28 and is already being played on radio stations.
Meanwhile Knut's loyal handler Thomas Dörflein, 43, continues to provide the white ball of fluff with around-the-clock care, cooing Elvis Presley songs at him as he feeds him porridge of milk and fish in the dead of night when the other animals are asleep, apart from the wild cats and owls, presumably.
Knut is putting on 200 grams a day and should be able to spend the nights on his own in one or two months, according to the zoo's vet Andre Schüle.
And in six or seven months, the inseparable couple may have to part because by then Knut will be so big and strong that he may be too dangerous to be in close contact with. "Knut will make it clear to me when he no longer needs my help," Dörflein told Bild. That will be another tragic day at Berlin Zoo.
From Spiegel Online International
November 24, 2006: World's Only Brown-and-White Panda Dies
Officials
announced on Thursday that the world's only brown-and-white panda died suddenly
on Wednesday at a zoo in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
The 17-year-old male panda, Qin Qin, appeared normal on Tuesday. He was playing and eating congee and fruit but was found dead at 5 AM on Wednesday. Qin Qin may have died from a pulmonary edema. Experts will conduct an examination to determine the exact cause of death.
Qin Qin could have lived longer, officials said. In February the Qinling Safari Park in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi, issued an emergency "appeal" for a spouse for Qin Qin hoping his descendants would inherit the gene of the rare brown-and-white panda.
Keepers were prepared to approve the transport of sperm from Qin Qin to another site for impregnation but the project was never realized. February-April is the sexually active period for giant pandas.
Qin Qin, who has never been "married" weighed 100 kg and stood 172 cm on his back legs. He’s the only child of "Wan Wan" a black-and-white male panda and "Dan Dan" an authentic brown-and-white female panda.
The giant panda is one of the world's most endangered species and is found only in China. It’s estimated that 1,590 giant pandas live in the wild in China. There were 183 pandas in captivity on the Chinese mainland at the end of 2005. A giant panda has a normal life expectancy of 30 to 40 years.
From Xinhua News Agency
July 13, 2005: World's oldest captive
panda dies
The world's oldest captive panda has died in a Chinese zoo at the age
of 36.
Mei Mei, who had eating difficulties and suffered serious organ failure in her old age, lived for the equivalent of 108 human years.
She died in Guilin Zoo in southern China, where she had lived for the last 20 years, prompting visitors to place flowers and cards by her body.
There are only an estimated 1,600 wild pandas left in China's central forests, and some 120 in captivity.
"She had entertained numerous visitors from both home and abroad, and remained the most popular animal in the zoo throughout her stay here," zookeeper Chen Qian said in comments carried by China's Xinhua news agency.
With the average lifespan of a giant panda standing at 25 calendar years, officials estimated that Mei Mei lived almost 50% longer than her expected life span.
New arrivals
Mei Mei moved to Guilin in 1985 from China's Wolong giant panda centre in Sichuan province.
On the same day that Mei Mei died, officials at Wolong announced the birth of a pair of giant panda twins - the second such births this summer.
Guo Guo's twins were born five days after Ying Ying gave birth to twins.
Birth rates among giant pandas are notoriously low because they only mate for three or four days each year.
From BBC News
August 25, 2004: Oldest captive panda dies at 33
The oldest panda raised in captivity has died in a zoo in eastern China at the age of 33, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.
Peipei died on 13 August when her "organs simply failed", Xinhua reported. She was said to be the equivalent of 100 in human years.
The news came as China announced it was building a giant panda protection zone in the south-west of the country.
It is hoped the new reserve will encourage the animals to breed.
Pandas rarely breed in captivity and are endangered in the wild.
The average span of the Giant Panda is 25-30 years.
An official at a nature reserve in Baoxing country, in Sichuan province, said the new zone would have an area of 1,200 sq km and would cost 180m yuan (about $21.8m).
"Expansion of protection zones will play a vital role in avoiding inbreeding and helping increase the number of the rare creatures," he was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
In June, China announced the results of the first comprehensive survey of
its wild panda population.
This showed there were an estimated 1,600 of the creatures left in the wild,
40% more than previous figures suggested.
Correspondents warned that the numbers might reflect the fact that the survey was so thorough, rather than a genuine recovery.
A further 161 pandas were reported to be living in captivity.
From BBC News
May 23, 2002: China's oldest panda dies
China's
oldest giant panda in captivity, 35- year-old Changchang, has died of old
age at a zoo in eastern China.
Changchang was diagnosed last week as suffering from pneumonia, liver disease and multi-organ exhaustion.
He died after an emergency attempt to save him on Tuesday at Jinan zoo in eastern Shandong province, the People's Daily web site said.
Changchang had lived five years longer than the average life expectancy of a panda in captivity and in human terms was between 75- 85 when he died, the paper said.
He died of old age because of the weakness of his internal organs, specialists said.
Zoo keepers said that Changchang started to refuse food on 8 May.
The big panda used to eat special meals consisting of up to three corn buns, three litres of milk and 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of tender bamboo leaves.
But then he refused to eat and became lethargic.
"Bathed in love and care"
Changchang was sent to Jinan Zoo from a nature reserve in northwest Gansu Province seven years ago. He "has bathed in love and care ever since," the paper said in an article last year.
When he arrived at the zoo he was already suffering from the discomforts of old age.
His teeth were loose and eating pandas' favourite food - tender bamboo leaves - became almost impossible for him.
His keepers came up with a special recipe of cornbread, bone meal, fishmeal, ground meat and minced bamboo leaves.
Changchang lived in an air-conditioned house with the average temperature and humidity maintained at all times.
The zoo authorities announced that Changchang's remains would be preserved and mounted and returned to his home in Gansu province.
The world's oldest panda before Changchang, a 37 year-old female called Dudi, died of epilepsy in 1999 at a zoo in Wuhan, central China, the People's Daily said.
Giant pandas are only found in China and are one of the most endangered
species in the world.
It is thought that fewer than 1,000 pandas are still living in the wild in
western China.
From BBC News
September 7, 2000: Brown, White-Colored Giant Panda Dies of Cancer
The world's only brown and white-colored giant panda raised in a zoo, Dan Dan, died Thursday in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
The 29-year-old female giant panda, equivalent to a woman in her 80's, suffered from bad health and cataracts in recent years, a zoo staff said. This May, the aging panda was diagnosed with cellular cancer.
Zoologists from Xi'an Zoo and experts from the No. 4 Medical College of the Chinese People's Liberation Army have tried every effort to prolong the life of the panda.
However, the situation of Dan Dan deteriorated on September 1. The panda twitched and could not eat and stand. It then underwent a CT examination in hospital.
Doctors injected nutrient solution to the comatose panda, but failed to save its life.
Dan Dan was discovered in Foping County, Shaanxi, 15 years ago, and was sent to Xi'an Zoo. It gave birth to a male black and white-colored panda in 1989.
Zoologists from the Research Center for Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, took samples of skin, internal organs and germ cells from the dead panda for genetic research.
From People’s Daily
August 23, 1999: Panda triplet cub dies
The
youngest of the world's first giant panda triplets has died.
Professor Zhang Hemin, a giant panda specialist at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Centre in southwest China's Sichuan Province, said the three-day-old cub died of a bladder disorder.
Normally, giant pandas give birth to one or two cubs at a time but even then survival rates are low. About 60% die shortly after birth, either from disease and or by being accidentally crushed by the mother.
A worker found the abandoned cub, which weighed 137 grams at birth, but it was already dead. The two remaining cubs are in good health.
The middle cub, 138 grams at birth, is being looked after by its mother and the eldest cub, 156 grams, is being cared for by the staff at the centre. The three cubs were the first recorded instance of a triple birth.
China used artificial insemination to produce the first giant panda cub born in captivity in 1963. The Chengdu centre, located at the Wolong Nature Reserve, was developed by the Chinese government and the World Wildlife Fund in 1980 and has successfully bred 24 giant pandas since 1991, of which 15 survived.
There are only about 1,000 giant pandas remaining in the world, either in captivity or in the wild. About 80% of these live in the mountains around the Sichuan Basin.
Another panda cub was born on Saturday, this time in San Diego zoo, US, making it the first live birth in the western hemisphere for almost a decade. The mother, Bai Yun, is on loan from China and was artificially inseminated.
Zoo officials say they are encouraged so far because Bai Yun, a first-time mother, seems to be showing a healthy maternal instinct.
From BBC News
July 26, 1999: China's oldest panda is dead
The death has been announced in China of Dou Dou, the country's best-loved and oldest panda in captivity.
Dou Dou -- who was thirty seven -- was the star attraction at the zoo in
the city of Wuhan.
A team of specialists was employed to try to keep her alive into the next
millenium because many Chinese associated her long life with good luck.
But the animal, described by the Chinese news agency as "a Super-God of longevity", suffered a fatal epileptic seizure.
Giant pandas -- unique to China --- usually only live to twenty.
There are a thousand living in the wild in the country and about a hundred in captivity. China has plans to clone the species.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
February 5, 1999: Veteran panda dies in Chinese zoo
A rare giant panda has died in Tianjin zoo in northeast China after desperate efforts by vets to keep him alive.
They tried blood transfusions, oxygen support and injections -- but they failed to save the twenty-eight year old animal.
The panda, named Zhai Zhai, was the star attraction at Tianjin for almost twenty years, but he was reported to have grown increasingly lonely after his mate died seven years ago.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
July 3, 1998: Giant panda dies in Chinese zoo
One of China's oldest giant pandas has died at a zoo in Taiyuanin the north of the country.
The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, said the thirty-three year old female panda, Shasha, had suffered a heart attack earlier in the week.
Correspondents say most pandas in captivity live between twenty and twenty five years, but that their lifespan is generally shorter in the wild where the species is nearing extinction.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
February 20, 1998: Old black eyes bows out
Qiang Qiang, one of the longest-living pandas in captivity, is reported to have died in China, aged 30.
The Xinhua News Agency says Qiang Qiang died of old age, on January 28, at a panda breeding centre in Chengdu, Sichuan province.
She had been taken to the centre earlier in the month for expert care.
Qiang Qiang never gave birth and began showing signs of senility at age 20, the average life span for a panda.
"She ate very little and became languid, and one of her eyes suffered from cataracts," said one of her caretakers at the zoo in the city of Shenyang, where the panda was kept for 22 years.
Zookeepers began preparing special concoctions of carrots, eggs and rice gruel spiked with vitamins and bee pollen to revive Qiang Qiang's appetite. Bamboo leaves were brought in by plane from her native Sichuan, 1,600km (1,000 miles) to the south-west.
Qiang Qiang's body has been taken back to Shenyang. Xinhua did not say if the move was for burial or display.
From BBC News