World’s oldest panda, An An dies at 35

An An, the world’s oldest male giant panda in captivity, died on Thursday (21) of health problems at the age of 35.

The panda was euthanized to avoid further suffering, Hong Kong’s Ocean Park said in a statement. His “smartness and fun” will be sorely missed, said park president Paulo Pong.

An An was gifted to the theme park 23 years ago by the Chinese central government, along with Jia Jia, a female believed to be the world’s oldest giant panda before her death in 2016 at age 38.

The pair have been seen by millions of tourists and schoolchildren over the years, many of whom posted their memories of An An online Thursday in photos and videos.

The average lifespan of a panda in the wild is 14 to 20 years, but they can live much longer in captivity, according to wildlife conservationists World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Pong said An An’s survival beyond the average lifespan demonstrates the theme park’s ongoing commitment to giant pandas.

The theme park is also home to two other giant pandas – the female Ying Ying and the male Le Le – that were given away by the Chinese government in 2007.

China has spent half a century trying to increase the population of its iconic animals, creating extensive panda reserves in various mountain ranges in an effort to save them from extinction.

Giant pandas are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, but after years of decline, their numbers in the wild have increased in recent years.

In 2017, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) updated the species from “endangered” to “vulnerable” after its population grew by nearly 17% over the previous decade. This move was mirrored by the Chinese government last year after the wild giant panda population swelled to 1,800.

In China, pandas are considered an umbrella species, meaning experts believe measures to protect them will help protect other species as well as the larger ecosystem.