No its not Chi Chi, which I had seen years before, its Chia Chia the male of a pair which came after her in 1974, his mate Ching Ching died quite a few years later, they were a gift from China.
Chi-Chi was never kept in this enclosure (Sobell pavilions) but in the old cattle house and then in the Bear enclosures (not the Mappins but the other ones).
Can't remember this one's name but it was the last panda at London Zoo and I think eventually went to Mexico.
The names of the Panda pair are Chia Chia and Ching Ching which arrived at London zoo in 1974, they never bred and in later years the female died leaving only Chia Chia, he did sire a cub however using AI (the semen was flown to spain) to a female in Spain. In later years he was transfered to Mexico city zoo who had a number of home bred females.
Giant Pandas are larger than Sun Bear but no bigger than Spectacled Bears. They don't really need enormous enclosures- when adult they are pretty inactive anyway and wouldn't use the space even if provided.
That's true, but I do still think that tha colosub cage is a bit too small, like Berlin's panda enclosure.
Strange how zoos spend so much money on something that sleeps all the time when they could get a much more interesting bear just from another zoo.
