After watching her cake for a few minutes, Huanlili finally decided to come closer to the delight of the crowd, who were very numerous and even sometimes dressed as pandas.
But the little female immediately went back to see her sister Yuandudu, who had stayed away.
Attracted by the healers, Huanlili ended up tasting her bamboo and mint cake. Not convinced by his lick, she returned to see her sister, signing the end of this first birthday party.
Not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of Béatrice, who came with her daughter from Marseille.
«We came specially. We still managed to see the binoculars through people’s cameras. It’s magnificent. It’s worth the trip,» she smiled.
Raised on tiptoe, Catherine tried to take pictures.
«It’s great even if we can’t see them too much. We’ll come back during the day because we came for the birthday of my granddaughter, who was born the same day as the pandas,» explained the grandmother from Falaise (Calvados).
All smiles, among the approximately 300 people gathered in front of the enclosure, the director of the zoo Rodolphe Delord lived «an exceptional moment».
«Since 2012 and the arrival of the pandas, we have experienced a lot of them. (…) They are doing wonderfully. They weigh 24 and 29 kilos. We have managed to breed both, and that is extraordinary» , he welcomed. The sisters weighed 150 grams at birth.
«Visitors were there from 7 a.m. to be the first to see the pandas. We hope to raise public awareness of nature protection. For children, it is often the first trip to the wild world,» said the leader.
The parents, Yuan Zi and Huan Huan, had been loaned for ten years to France in 2012. Their lease had been extended until 2024 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Beauval «hopes» to continue to host the two plantigrades after 2024.