{"id":261857,"date":"2025-09-28T18:07:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T18:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/261857\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T18:07:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T18:07:18","slug":"meet-xin-xin-the-last-giant-panda-in-latin-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/261857\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Xin Xin: The last giant panda in Latin America"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEXICO CITY (AP) \u2014 After a decade of caring for camels, lions, lynxes and lemurs, Joel Fr\u00edas joined the team handling the Chapultepec Zoo\u2019s<\/a> star attraction: the giant pandas.<\/p>\n

It was 2000, and Mexico City\u2019s zoo, nestled in its massive forested urban oasis, had been the first outside China to successfully breed giant pandas.<\/p>\n

Xin Xin<\/a>, the last panda born from that program, was 10 years old then. Now she\u2019s 35, elderly by captive panda standards, and the last giant panda in Latin America<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every morning, Fr\u00edas arrives early to quietly check on her breathing before preparing a breakfast of biscuits, cooked rice, carrots, and crushed apples.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if it\u2019s raining \u2026 even if it\u2019s really cold, I\u2019d rather be checking the animals than be at a desk,\u201d said the 60-year-old zookeeper, who wears small panda buttons pinned to his vest.<\/p>\n

Latin America\u2019s last panda<\/p>\n

Giant pandas<\/a> like Xin Xin have an average life expectancy in the wild of 15 years. In captivity, they\u2019ve lived as long as 38.<\/p>\n

The pandas that once were at risk of extinction have rebounded thanks to conservation programs and now number some 2,300, with about 500 of those in zoos around the world.<\/p>\n

Mexico\u2019s program started in 1975, when China gave it Pe Pe and Ying Ying, a pair that yielded seven cubs, four of whom reached adulthood. One of those original offspring was Xin Xin\u2019s mother Tohui.<\/p>\n

Xin Xin has outlived her parents, aunts and uncles, but she never had cubs, so Mexico\u2019s panda run could end with her.<\/p>\n

The Mexican government has not said what it will do when Xin Xin dies. China now charges $1 million a year to loan pandas for 10 to 15 years.<\/p>\n

Caring for an aged panda<\/p>\n

When Fr\u00edas joined the team caring for the pandas, he started by sitting with Xin Xin and speaking to her so she would grow accustomed to his voice. He made sure to wear the same fragrance each day so that she would recognize his scent.<\/p>\n

Eventually, he gained her trust to the point that he could get close enough to touch her.<\/p>\n

Now, after 25 years caring for her, Fr\u00edas can easily figure out what she wants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she\u2019s hungry and nervous, she starts with the stereotypical (behavior) of getting up and walking from one side to the other,\u201d he said. \u201cThat means she wants out or that she\u2019s hungry.\u201d In addition to the fruits and veggies she gets twice a day, she eats about 28 pounds (13 kilograms) of bamboo branches.<\/p>\n

Xin Xin sleeps about 15 hours a day, so for several years now, Fr\u00edas has led her through daily exercises of no more than 10 minutes at a time, where she will sit, open her mouth, extend her paw and lie down. The routine allows her veterinarians to regularly check her heart, breathing and take blood samples.<\/p>\n

Zoo Director Alberto Olascoaga said that despite Xin Xin\u2019s advanced age, \u201cshe\u2019s completely in good health.\u201d Her teeth and joints aren\u2019t in great shape, but that\u2019s normal for an elderly panda.<\/p>\n

\u2018If she goes, I will too\u2019<\/p>\n

On a typical day, Xin Xin\u2019s flock of fans mill about outside her leafy enclosure oohing and ahhing at the fluffy bear munching bamboo on the other side of the glass.<\/p>\n

After hearing of Xin Xin\u2019s most recent birthday in July, Jazm\u00edn Montoya, a 23-year-old lawyer from the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, convinced her mother and two sisters to drive to Mexico City<\/a> to visit the panda.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not ready yet\u201d to say goodbye, Montoya said. It will be \u201ca great loss for the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fr\u00edas isn\u2019t ready for that day either.<\/p>\n

Watching her outside the enclosure, the zookeeper grew emotional recalling how when she was young Xin Xin would do somersaults and run around when they released her into her enclosure in the mornings.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has already given us 35 years well lived. In fact, physically she\u2019s doing better than I am,\u201d he said, collecting himself. But her departure will also close a chapter for the zookeeper. \u201cIf she goes, I will too.\u201d<\/p>\n

____<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/latin-america<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEXICO CITY (AP) \u2014 After a decade of caring for camels, lions, lynxes and lemurs, Joel Fr\u00edas joined…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":261858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[137002,3425,1613,10109,10106,57,18983,6604,1612,2222,14004,15228,159,4217,67,132,68,837,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-261857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-alberto-olascoaga","9":"tag-animals","10":"tag-central-america","11":"tag-climate","12":"tag-climate-and-environment","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-giant-pandas","15":"tag-international-news","16":"tag-latin-america","17":"tag-mexico","18":"tag-mexico-city","19":"tag-oddities","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-south-america","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-wildlife","26":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115283259778811241","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}