Giant panda An An, 35, passed away today after spending 23 years with Hongkongers. Let’s look back at his fluffiest and most memorable moments.
Born in 1986 in Sichuan, China, An An originally lived in the Wolong National Nature Reserve. Before coming to Hong Kong, he had traveled to Singapore as a panda ambassador for six months.
Together with his female companion Jia Jia, An An was gifted to Hong Kong by China in 1999 and first greeted the public in Hong Kong on May 18 that year.
While they arrived in Hong Kong together, the two Sichuan natives did not seem to be interested in each other. In fact, they had slept in separate rooms during their time in Hong Kong.
Compared with Jia Jia, An An — who was about half the female panda’s age in 1999 — was more active, often bringing joy to visitors with his cute antics and how much he enjoyed eating. Check out these videos of An An “doing a mukbang”.
He has an offspring named Rong Rong, who was conceived via artificial insemination and born in 2004.
An An made the headlines in 2008 after he bit a caretaker in her calf and scuttled off to hide. Ocean Park later explained that the accident was due to the caretaker entering the enclosure to bring him food while he was there, which is against the guidelines of the park. This resulted in An An thinking that someone was invading his territory.
A video of the incident circulated on the internet, with many netizens expressing surprise at how fast An An hurried off.
An An’s companion Jia Jia passed away in 2016, aged 38. Giant pandas in the wild typically live to about 20 years old on average, while the lifespan of those under human care can reach 30 years.
But An An still had two panda companions in Le Le and Ying Ying, who arrived in the park in 2007.
In 2017, An An turned 31 and officially became the world’s oldest male giant panda under human care.
He celebrated his birthday with an icy cake.
In recent years, An An started having geriatric conditions common to pandas, including high blood pressure, arthritis and cataracts.
Last August, An An celebrated another milestone as he turned 35. That is the equivalent of 105 human years.
He had a cake made of his favorite treats, including bamboo, sweet potatoes and carrots.
Last week, Ocean Park said An An was having a poor appetite and was out of spirits.
Despite the efforts of his caretakers, the park said the giant panda’s health deteriorated slowly but progressively in the past few weeks with An An showing a severe decrease in physical activities and food intake.
With his condition reaching a humane endpoint, his veterinarians made the difficult decision to put An An to sleep.
An An, enjoy rolling and eating your favorite treats once again over the rainbow bridge. You’ll be dearly missed.
