The Taipei Zoo recently held a special birthday party for one of its most treasured residents. Yuan Zai, the beloved panda, turned ten and shared this new milestone with her fans.
Fans gather around the enclosure of Yuan Zai (圓圓), one of Taipei Zoo's famous pandas, to wish her a happy tenth birthday. During the celebration, Yuan Zai lays her paws on her customized birthday ice cake, takes a bite, and pushes it off a tree stump, resulting in "aah"s from the fans on the other side of the glass. The cake lands on the ground, breaking into two pieces. It seems Yuan Zai prefers bamboo shoots to ice cake.
One fan says he's visited Yuan Zai since when she was first born. Another fan wearing a panda headband and earrings, possessing a panda phone case, and a panda mask shares that she flew all the way from Hong Kong specifically to celebrate Yuan Zai's birthday. Taipei Zoo spokesperson Tsao Hsien-shao (曹先紹) praised Yuan Zai for digging into her cake in front of her fans. He says that her crowd-pleasing antics went beyond his expectations.
It seems that this birthday celebration was worth the trip for Yuan Zai's fans, despite all the panda-monium.