Does Mexico own their own panda?

Her name is Xin Xin, and she's one of only three pandas in the world not owned by China. But these may be the final day's of Mexico's half-century panda love affair. Mexico's last giant panda, Xin Xin, lounges in her habitat at the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City.



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In 1984, China ended panda gifts, switching to a policy of high-priced loans. This history has made Mexico one of a few countries able to keep locally born panda cubs. Since 1985, the loan program has required that zoos return any cubs to China.

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Tian Tian and Yang Guang are the pandas that are housed in Edinburgh Zoo in the UK. They live in 275,000 pounds suites and have organic food flown in from the Continent. They are on loan from China and will return in 2023.

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With diplomatic tensions running high between Beijing and a number of Western governments, China appears to be gradually pulling back its pandas from multiple Western zoos as their agreements expire.

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Both parents and any offspring remained under the ownership of China. In December 2020, the Zoo announced that giant pandas would continue to live at the Smithsonian's National Zoo through the end of 2023.

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Global Pandas Giant Pandas can be found in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States (Zoo Atlanta & The Smithsonian National Zoo).

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They were part of China's early “panda diplomacy,” a period when the charismatic animals were gifted to countries around the world. In 1984, China ended panda gifts, switching to a policy of high-priced loans. This history has made Mexico one of a few countries able to keep locally born panda cubs.

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In 1984, China ended panda gifts, switching to a policy of high-priced loans. This history has made Mexico one of a few countries able to keep locally born panda cubs.

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A monthly celebration of the biodiversity of our planet's animals, plants and other organisms. Three US zoos currently host giant pandas: the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC has three, the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee has one and Zoo Atlanta in Georgia has four.

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The Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City is unique in that it's two giant panda residents, Xin Xin and Shuan Shuan are the only giant pandas in the world not owned by China.

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The Chinese government, which gifted the first pair of pandas - Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling - to the U.S., now leases the pandas out for a typical 10-year renewable term. The annual fee ranges from $1 million to $2 million per pair, plus mandatory costs to build and maintain facilities to house the animals.

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That's because almost all pandas, even ones born abroad, are considered the property of China—as part of a loan program it has with selected zoos around the world. The newly born female twin pandas at Everland Amusement and Animal Park in Yongin, on July 7.

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