Feature: CHINESE NEW YEAR - Crowds waited to see Pandas Tian Tian and Yang Guang at Edinburgh Zoo
Published: 27 January, 2012
by Richard Osley
A crowd of fanatics waited outside Edinburgh Zoo like the kids used to do in front of a stadium arena when the Beatles were in town. They waved flags, some shouting “we love you!” But the stars heading inside were not rock’n’roll hedonists.
Tian Tian and Yang Guang, two giant pandas from China, were welcomed like heroes to Scotland in December.
They might as well have rolled down a red carpet. The zoo wouldn't get this level of excitement when it orders in a bat or a mongoose or a new owl.
And that’s because, despite being often caricatured as bashful and shy, hiding at the back scoffing bamboo shoots, the panda has forced its way to the top of an unofficial global My Favourite Animal list.
We love them.
There is an almost universal affection for the puffed eyes and black and white markings.
It is pandas that so often become the first fluffy toy our babies have for comfort in their cots.
They are the heroes of films like Kung Fu Panda. And throughout, this slow-moving big bear of an animal never looks like it quite comprehends its celebrity, rocking an almost permanent non-plussed gaze.
It might be able to claw your ear off if you called its tummy “cuddly”, but the word sums up its appearance in every child’s bedroom the world over.
The Chinese are proud that when we think of pandas we think of China. Its western regions are pretty much the only place to see them ambling around in the wild.
They appear in cartoons and on coins and bank notes in China.
But they remain on the endangered species.
Part of the set-up in Edinburgh is the hope that the most expensive animals in the zoo may breed.
While we all gawp and say “ahhhh”, good luck to them.