By SHIRO NISHIHATA/ Staff Writer
September 14, 2022 at 17:43 JST
SHIRAHAMA, Wakayama Prefecture--A giant panda who has fathered more than a dozen cubs celebrated his 30th birthday at a zoo here on Sept. 14.
Adventure World marked Eimei’s birthday by presenting him ice blocks shaped in letters that read “Happy Birthday” and “30.” He is the world’s second-oldest panda in captivity.
He would be around 90 in human years, according to zoo officials.
Eimei walked around the ice blocks curiously and climbed on playground equipment before he ate some bamboo.
“I want him to stay healthy and become the world’s oldest panda,” said zookeeper Yuka Shinagawa.
Born in China in 1992, Eimei arrived at Adventure World two years later. He has fathered 16 cubs to date, with the youngest named Fuhin, born in November 2020.
Eimei weighed 110 kilograms as of Sept. 10.
The zoo was closed on Sept. 14, but it held an event commemorating his birthday by displaying monuments modeled after Eimei and his earlier partners--Mei Mei and Rauhin--who gave birth to some of their cubs.
The zoo also offered a special viewing of the pandas there.
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Giant panda Eimei looks curiously at ice blocks given to him as a present for his 30th birthday at Adventure World in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, on Sept. 14. (Shiro Nishihata)
