Moscow Zoo has told how a baby panda is already showing her Russian character but they are not hurrying plans to show her to the public.
Moscow Zoo director Svetlana Akulova said on 12th February that the cub Katyusha is charming and charismatic and said her character is “Moscow, Russian, Russian”.
She also emphasised that Russia’s participation in the program to study such a rare species of animal as the giant panda is a great advantage.
She told local media: “And we are lucky that no one is rushing us, they are not forcing us to show off the animal faster.”
Previously, footage showed Katysha struggling to break free as her mum hauled her back into their shelter.
Baby Katyusha tried again and again to get away, but each time, her mother, Dindin, pulled her back with the scruff of her neck held gently in her jaws.
But even the strictest mum can meet her match and determined Katyusha did not give up and eventually tumbled down the stairs to the shelter on her own.
In a second clip, she could be seen celebrating with a joyful, if a little clumsy, roly-poly as the footage ends.
The images were obtained from Moscow Zoo on 20th January, with director Akulova captioning the clips “Nooo, I won’t go! … Sometimes even the wisest mothers run out of patience!”
Katyusha made history as the first baby giant panda to be born in Russia, according to the Chinese National Giant Panda Conservation and Research Centre.
She was born in August 2023 and was named in a social media poll after 380,000 social media users took part in choosing a name.
Dindin and her partner Ruyi arrived in Moscow in 2019 as part of China’s and Russia’s celebration of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Chinese media said that the panda family are set to spend 15 years at Moscow Zoo before returning home.
China is famous for its ‘Panda Diplomacy’, where giant pandas are sent from China to other countries as a tool of diplomacy.
Until 1984, the Chinese government gifted pandas to other nations, but since then, they have been loaned to other countries after the Chinese government changed its policy.
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Story By: Marija Stojkoska, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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