Happy Birthday, Tai Shan!
Giant panda Tai Shan enjoys a frozen birthday "cake" on his fourth birthday on July 9. (Photo by Mehgan Murphy)
He may not have blown out any candles, but the National Zoo’s famous giant panda, Tai Shan, officially celebrated his fourth birthday this morning— complete with singing, guests and a massive, three-tiered “veggie-sicle” cake. The frozen masterpiece was made over the course of two weeks by Zoo commissary staff by freezing a combination of water, beets and beet juice enhanced with bamboo and fruit. Tai Shan quickly took to the frozen treat and seemed to enjoy it, licking at the ice and spotting his fur with beet jucie.
Tai Shan is on the cusp of adulthood; at age four, he is considered an adolescent in “bear years.”
The giant panda is listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Animals. There are about 1,600 left in the wild in a few mountain ranges in central China, in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces. More than 160 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world, mostly in China.
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Posted: 10 July 2009
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