People wearing panda-like costumes perform tai chi in London in July 2012, aiming to promote the protection of the endangered species. Xinhua

Princess Anne visits Edinburgh Zoo to see the giant panda pair, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, in 2012. Provided to China Daily

Chinese couple have become a star attraction at Scottish zoo and the media can't have enough of them

In the world of pandas, even for a pair called Tian Tian and Yang Guang (Sweetie and Sunshine), all is not necessarily sweetness, light and free-flowing love.

The pair took up residence in Edinburgh Zoo a little more than two years ago, but rather than being universally celebrated, their presence seems to have put the noses of some of the zoo's inhabitants out of joint.

The biggest stars of the zoo used to be its rockhopper penguins, but that all changed when Tian Tian and Yang Guang arrived on the scene in December 2011. Suddenly the penguins were relegated to being a supporting act, and zoo visitors were soon feeling the fallout of their jealousy.

As the penguins, from their enclosure above that of the pandas, have watched the zoo's new superstars bathing in adulation, those lining up to see them have been showered with penguin droppings.

"Extremely curious birds, they often gather next to the wall to see what's happening below," says Gary Wilson, who is director of business operations at the zoo.

"We're hoping it's not a case of monochrome jealousy, but one or two of our rockhoppers seem to have had surprisingly good aim."

More than 1 million people have visited the zoo to see the pandas, says Chris West, CEO of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which owns the zoo.

The visitors have included Queen Elizabeth's daughter Princess Anne, the actress Nicole Kidman and a host of politicians and VIPs.

"In the early months visitor numbers rose by approximately 200 percent when compared with pre-panda visitor number figures," West says. "The initial surge has now settled down to a steady 40 percent increase, which we are delighted with as this is ahead of the average of most panda zoos."

When they arrived at Edinburgh airport, hundreds of people welcomed them. Many more gathered at the gates of the zoo to see them arrive. Countless news organizations reported the event, with one newspaper declaring that "panda mania" had hit Edinburgh.

Their arrival marked the beginning of a 10-year loan from China that aims to delight the public and highlight global conservation efforts to help one of the world's most endangered species.

West says: "Housing pandas is predominately about conservation as the species is seriously endangered and we believe Scotland's expertise could add to the overarching conservation program. They are a flagship species to highlight other conservation work, but of course being a panda zoo does bring financial and profile-raising benefits for both the zoo itself and the local economy.

"Being chosen to be one of the few zoos in the world to house pandas is a great honor for a charitable conservation body like RZSS and is testament to our expertise in many areas such as animal nutrition, genetics, embryology, immunology and veterinary medicine."

"As a not-for-profit organization that receives no government funding, the business case study prepared by us was conservative, and to date we are surpassing expectations and have bucked the trend for a panda zoo in year 2."

The zoo's panda-cams provide an easily accessible medium for people worldwide to see the pandas close-up.

In January in an Internet poll, Tian Tian beat other pandas to a gold medal when panda aficionados throughout the world voted for their favorite panda outside China.

In 2011, Tian Tian was controversially in the BBC's Women of the Year List alongside people such as Pippa Middleton.

The two pandas have also received an honorary Scottish Thistle Award for their services to the Scottish tourism industry. The award was carved out of bamboo, their favorite food.

Some have complained about how much is being spent on the pandas, but those gripes have been almost entirely overshadowed by the affection the animals have drawn from all over Britain, from young and old alike.

The zoo has been adept in its marketing of the pandas, epitomized by the blanket national media coverage it got in January last year when a girl of Chinese and Scottish descent visited the zoo.

Tian Tian Brunton, then 7, of Peebles, Scotland, had earlier written to her namesake telling her about everything they had in common.

"The first is that we have the same name. This has made me quite famous at school as everyone has heard about you coming from China to live in Edinburgh."

She wrote that she and the panda, which was born in 2003, were almost the same age and said she was half Chinese. Her mother is from Tianjin, and her father is from Scotland.

She worried that Tian Tian might be lonely, and reassured her that Scots are just as friendly as Chinese.

Tian Tian's mother said: "She affixed an image of her face, which we made in Tianjin, at the end of the letter, and her photo, which was taken in Beijing."

The girl even offered to chat in Chinese with the female panda and said how pleased she was that Tian Tian had brought her friend Yang Guang to Scotland.

Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to Britain, says the two pandas are helping bring China and Britain closer together.

There are hopes that during their stay the two cubs can produce offspring. Any cubs will stay with their mother until they are 2 and then be handed over to China.

Last year, after weeks of waiting for a panda to be born, Edinburgh Zoo announced that a baby Tian Tian had been carrying had been lost in pregnancy.

This year, the zoo hopes it will be third time lucky for the two pandas as they prepare for the short breeding season.

"The pandas are in great health and condition," West says. "Things are progressing nicely and both are showing all the pre-breeding behaviors we would want to be seeing at this stage."

Scientists and animal experts will draw on "our knowledge and learning when the short window of the panda breeding season arrives", he says.

zhangchunyan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 02/28/2014 page8)