bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Holly Chik

China will send experts to a zoo in the southeastern United States to look into the death of a giant panda that was set to return to China after 20 years.
The Chinese team will join American scientists to investigate the cause of death of Le Le, who died on Wednesday morning at Memphis Zoo in the state of Tennessee, according to the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens.
Le Le, whose name means “Happy Happy”, was born in 1998 and sent to the US zoo in 2003.
“Authorities in China are very concerned about the sudden death of the giant panda Le Le,” the association said on Sunday.
“They have notified US counterparts to properly store the body and will send an expert team to the zoo as soon as possible.”
50 years of panda diplomacy: the softest power meets hard reality
In December, the zoo said male Le Le, along with female Ya Ya, would be sent back to China in early 2023 after a 20-year loan agreement ended, a move celebrated on Chinese social media.
Animal rights groups had claimed that the zoo was mistreating the pandas. Memphis Zoo denied the accusation as well as suggestions the return of the pandas was related to the claims.
A spokesman for the zoo told Reuters the return was part of the agreement with China that required foreign zoos to allow the loaned pandas to spend their final days on Chinese soil.
Senior veterinary surgeon Felicia Knightly said on Friday that days before the panda died, Le Le was not eating well for a couple of hours, possibly because of a stomach upset, but was soon “completely normal”.
She said experts from the US and China would complete a postmortem examination to find the reason for his death.


The life expectancy of a giant panda in the wild is about 15 years, but in captivity they have lived to be as old as 38.
Decades of conservation efforts in the wild and study in captivity saved the giant panda from extinction, increasing its population from fewer than 1,000 at one time to more than 1,800 in the wild and captivity.
China has long been sending pandas overseas as a diplomatic tool to strengthen ties. In 1972, after US president Richard Nixon met Chinese leader Mao Zedong, China gave pandas Ling Ling and Xing Xing to the United States.
Most pandas go to developed countries with geopolitical clout and that can pay the panda leasing fees of up to US$1 million annually, as well as meet the cost of their special enclosures and diet.
The top panda recipients in 2019 – the US with 11, Japan with nine and South Korea with four – were also among China’s biggest trading partners.


China urges US to immediately release Maduro, ‘stop subverting Venezuelan regime’

What the US national security strategy means for Hong Kong

How China quietly became the world’s climate policy leader

Trump says US will ‘run Venezuela’, keep oil flowing to China after Maduro capture

US-China relations

Chinese team to investigate death of giant panda Le Le in the US

Chinese and American scientists will investigate the cause of death of giant panda Le Le at Memphis Zoo last week. Photo: Xinhua

Bye-bye Ya Ya and Le Le: Memphis pandas to be returned to China

Two-year-old female panda Ya Ya arrives in Memphis, Tennessee on loan from Beijing, China in 2003. Ya Ya and another panda, Le Le, are being returned to China. Photo: Reuters

Singer Billie Eilish in October. Photo: FilmMagic

Tokyo asks China if Xiang Xiang and parents can stay, as lease of pandas ends

Giant panda cub Xiang Xiang, left, is pulled by her mother Shin Shin at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. Photo: AP

Visitors wait to watch female baby panda Xiang Xiang, born from mother panda Shin Shin on June 12, 2017, on the first day of her public debut at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo, Japan December 19, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Panda enthusiast Saeko Nishitani, 23, poses for a photograph after the public viewing of female baby panda Xiang Xiang, born from mother panda Shin Shin on June 12, 2017, on the first day of her public debut at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo, Japan December 19, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Female giant panda cub Xiang Xiang (L) walks beside her mother Shin Shin (R) at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on December 19, 2017. Xiang Xiang appeared to the public the first time at the zoo. REUTERS/Toru Yamanaka/Pool TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Xiang Xiang plays in her enclosure in December 2017. Photo: AFP

Echoes of China’s panda diplomacy seen in ancient Maya spider monkey offering

A spider monkey is seen in a zoo in Nicaragua. Photo: EPA-EFE

The complete skeletal remains of a 1,700-year-old female spider monkey that was found in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Photo: Nawa Sugiyama / UC Riverside via AFP

A spider monkey is seen in a zoo in Nicaragua. Researchers said the animal was likely ‘alien to the high elevations of Teotihuacan’. Photo: EPA-EFE

A jewellery vendor waits for tourists in front of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Photo: AP

Down to its last panda, Mexico wonders what could come next

Xin Xin, the last giant panda in Latin America, sits inside her enclosure at the Chapultepec Zoo, in Mexico City. Photo: AP

Xin Xin in her enclosure where she passes the time relaxing in a hammock and padding tranquilly around looking for bamboo or her favourite red apples that her caretaker sometimes hides. Photo: AP

Xin Xin sits inside her enclosure munching on bamboo at the Chapultepec Zoo, in Mexico City. Photo: AP

News

China

Science

The male panda was due to be sent back to its birthplace this year but died suddenly last week
Postmortem examination will be carried out to determine cause of death


The male panda was due to be sent back to its birthplace this year but died suddenly last week.


Pandas

Chinese team to investigate death of giant panda Le Le in the US

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The male panda was due to be sent back to its birthplace this year but died suddenly last week Postmortem examination will be carried out to determine cause of death

The male panda was due to be sent back to its birthplace this year but died suddenly last week

Postmortem examination will be carried out to determine cause of death