Story of a pandaIn a corner of Madrid’s zoological park a monument was erected in 1997 in memo

Story of a pandaIn a corner of Madrid’s zoological park a monument was erected in 1997 in memory of Chu-Lin, one of the world’s most famous animals back then and a favourite of Madrid’s children. In fact, the statue bears the inscription LOS NIÑOS A CHULIN (The children to Chu-Lin). During more than a decade, Chu-Lin had been the great star of Madrid’s zoo, and with a good reasond: he was the first panda born in Europe by the method of artificial insemination.Chu-Lin was born on September, 4, 1982. His mother Shao Shao arrived in Spain as a goodwill gift from the Popular Republic of China to the Spanish King, Juan Carlos I. With Shao Shao arrived another male panda, Chang Chang. She had been born in captivity; he, on the wild. The pair got along pretty well, but, although they mated, nobody at the zoo’s staff was sure about his fertility. So Shao Shao was inseminated with sperm from Chia Chia, a panda from London’s zoo. And so Chu Lin, which means treasure among the bamboo but also sounds similar to Chulo or Chulín and it’s easy to remember for Spanish speakers, was born. Immediatly after Chu Lin, his mother gave birth to a second panda, a female who was rejected by Shao Shao and bottlefeed by the veterinarians at the zoo. Sadly, Chu Lin little sister’s didn’t survive. Little Chu Lin was considered a sort of miracle. Unfortunately his health was never very good and there are more dramatic turns in his story. Shao Shao died barely a year after giving birth, on October 1983, the cause being salmonella. Chu Lin went to live with his stepfather Chang Chang. They got along extremely well. Everyone went wild for that panda from Madrid. A song was written about him, the image of a panda became the logo of the zoo and he was considered the world’s most valuable animal. Probably his only rival at the time was Barcelona’s albino gorilla.But Chu Lin wasn’t very healthy. Veterinaires had to fight against his loss of apetite occasioned by the diabetes. His diet had to be carefully supervised. When in 1995 his adoptive father Chang Chang died of a stroke, our hero’s health declined definitely. Only six months later, Chu Lin passed away from intestinal problems. The children of Madrid were devastated.Other pandas have been born in Madrid’s zoo since then. Notably, the female cub born in 2016 and baptized as Chulina in hommage to this first pioneer, but no one can forget the first European panda.Image sources (Chu Lin); and for the statue, x.And an article about him in English. -- source link

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