BIRTHDAY BOY DEVOURS TREAT
THERE’S no better way to top off a panda’s birthday cake than with a bamboo candle.
That’s exactly what keepers at Berlin Zoo conjured up for 110kg male panda Jiao Qing at the weekend.
The burly fellow was born in Chengdu on July 15, 2010. He is on loan to the zoo in the German capital from China.
The ice cream cake consisted of a delicious mix of fruits and vegetables topped off with the bamboo candle.
No doubt the zoo’s on-loan female panda, Meng Meng, would have liked to help the birthday boy polish off his birthday treat – but she wasn’t given the chance.
“Our male panda is super chilled out and always keeps his cool – so long as he has something to get his strong teeth around,” Berlin Zoo’s deputy panda handler and experienced bear keeper Marcus Robke said.
“If we serve Meng Meng the famous ‘panda muffins’ before him, he can get quite vocal.”