US zoo celebrates panda's 26th birthday

Crowds joined a special birthday party last weekend at the Panda House at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington.

They flocked there to celebrate the 26th birthday of Tian Tian, a male giant panda living at the zoo.

At 9 am on Sunday, keepers served Tian Tian a special panda-friendly fruitsicle birthday cake in his outdoor enclosure. The keepers carefully decorated the three-tier cake. The number "26" was made from frozen diluted apple, with pineapple juice at the top.

Some visitors sang happy birthday in unison. Many more panda lovers joined the festivities through the zoo's 24-hour live Panda Cam.

It was Tian Tian's final birthday at the zoo. He and Mei Xiang, 25, and their cub Xiao Qi Ji, 3, will return to China, their home country, in December.

According to the zoo, a grand farewell event will be held for the panda family from Sept 23 to Oct 1.

Pam, 52, a nurse living in Tysons Corner, Virginia, told China Daily she got up early and drove to celebrate Tian Tian's birthday. "I must come because they will go back to China soon," she said. "I always came to see the pandas with my son when he was little. I hope they could come back someday."

An influencer, "DC Panda Girl", told China Daily that she goes to the zoo nearly every weekend to visit the pandas. She took lots of videos and photos and updated them on her YouTube channel.

"I feel sad, and my sister will be the saddest," said Charlotte, 7, talking about the pandas leaving and pointing to her sister, Lucy, almost 3, who was smiling and holding a panda doll tightly.

The girls and their baby brother, 1-year-old Alex, and their mom, Malte, were all wearing pointy birthday hats with a panda sticker on each of them. They also carried a handmade poster that read "Happy Birthday, Tian Tian".

Mei Xiang celebrated her 25th birthday on July 22, and the zoo celebrated Xiao Qi Ji's third birthday on Aug 21.