Chi Chi in her indoor enclosure in the old Deer & Cattle Sheds, Regents Park, 16th May 1972. Scanned from a Kodacolor negative. Chi Chi died 2 months after this photo was taken.
In 'Men and Pandas', Morris describes the male AnAn's serious attempts to mate a reluctant ChiChi in Moscow Zoo, chasing and then pinning down and even mounting her. He was obviously a 'real' male Panda and maybe not having ChiChi as a permanent next door neighbour might have stimulated him more than some of the other pairs that do not mate. I think it was only the problem of ChiChi's humanisation that prevented successful mating at that time- Morris also described how immediately after one of these unsuccessful attempts she 'presented' to people, I think there may even be a photo of that.
Before my time, but considering her fame I've always been surprised that there isn't some form of remembrance of Chi-Chi at London. There are statues of Guy and Winnie yet nothing of Chi-Chi. Then again, there's nothing of Jumbo either.
Obviously I understand you can't keep having numerous memorials to past residents, yet it feels like ZSL would rather forget about her.
