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Zoo Atlanta's panda twins celebrate sixth birthday
Giant panda twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun, the only giant panda twins in the United States, had a birthday celebration at Zoo Atlanta filled with ice 'cakes' and frozen treats.
ATLANTA - Ya Lun and Xi Lun are the only giant panda twins in the entire country, and they just turned six years old at Zoo Atlanta. The Panda Care Team threw the duo a joint party on Saturday with their father who turned 25 just the day before.
To celebrate, the care team brought the bears ice "cakes", birthday bags full of leaf-eater biscuits and a birthday banner.
But it turns out, one of the twins is incredibly shy.
The team says Ya Lun was nervous about the unfamiliar gifts, so she opted out of the festivities.
Her sister, on the other hand, is a party animal. Xi Lun rushed into the dayroom habitat, inspected each of their gifts and settled on tearing the celebration banner before stuffing her face with the goods.
Xi Lun and Ya Lun, the only giant panda twins in the U.S. (Credit: Zoo Atlanta)
Their dad enjoyed his presents and snacks in the room over.
Did you know that fewer than 1,900 giant pandas are estimated to remain in the wild in China’s Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces? The International Union for Conservation of Nature says this is likely due to deforestation and other human activities that threaten their natural habitats.
You can visit the twins and their parents at Zoo Atlanta every day of the week, starting at 9 a.m. Or, you can check them out online on Zoo Atlanta's PandaCam.