Animals
Panda bears celebrate fourth birthday with ice cream cake
There is a cake made of ice cream, vegetables and fruit for the panda bears Pit and Paule at the Berlin Zoo on the occasion of their fourth birthday. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
An ice cream cake made of bamboo and beetroot juice was served at the Berlin Zoo for a very special occasion: the panda twins are turning four.
Germany’s first panda offspring
Pit and Paule were born on August 31, 2019 at the Berlin Zoo and, according to the facility, are the first and only giant pandas to be born in Germany. The successful mating between Pit and Paule’s parents, Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, was a minor sensation at the time – after all, pandas are considered to be sex muffles.
The four bears are the only ones of their kind in Germany. According to the zoo, there are only about 2,000 adult giant pandas in China’s natural habitat. Zoo director Knieriem emphasized the importance of protecting the species.
Pit and Paule are moving
On their birthday, the bears showed up in brotherly unity and romped around in the lawn of their outdoor enclosure. How long they can still be admired there is unclear. The birthday children should move to the breeding and research station in Chengdu, China, as soon as possible. Like their parents, Pit and Paule are Chinese property. An exact date of departure for the twins has not yet been determined. In all likelihood, Pit and Paule will no longer celebrate their fifth birthday in Berlin, a spokeswoman said.