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04. 02. 10. - 13:00

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04. 02. 10. - 13:00

Fu Long finds playmate

Panda Fu Long has found a playmate at his new home at China’s Bifengxia panda rearing and research station after leaving Vienna’s Schönbrunn Zoo last November.

Chinese officials have informed Schönbrunn Zoo director Dagmar Schratter that Fu Long’s new companion is a two and a half year old male panda named Wu Jun (Good-Looking) that was born on 14 September 2007 at the Wolong station.

Wu Jun was transferred to Bifengxia after a May 2008 earthquake destroyed much of Wolong.

Schratter said today (Thurs): "We are very pleased that Fu Long has found a companion of the same age. His carers have reported that the two pandas play together and get along well."

She added that the carers had also sent her photos showing the two pandas sitting together while munching bamboo. Fu Long stands out because of his white hind paws.

Fu Long – the first panda born in captivity in Europe – had been due to leave Schönbrunn Zoo for China in August, but zoo officials wanted to spare the animal a 15-hour journey in hot summer weather. It was therefore agreed that the panda would leave Vienna on 18 November 2009.

Fu Long – conceived by its mother Yang Yang and father Long Hui who have been on loan to the zoo since 2003 – weighed only 100 grams and was 10 centimetres long at birth but weighed around 50 kilos when he left for China.

Fu Long means "Lucky Dragon" in Chinese.

Austrian Times

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