Gift panda dies from ‘malignant brain tumour’

Tuan Tuan, one of two giant pandas gifted to Taiwan from China, died on Saturday after a brief illness, the Taipei Zoo said. No cause of death was immediately given, but earlier reports said the panda was believed to have a malignant brain tumour, prompting China to send a pair of experts to Taiwan earlier this month to help with his treatment. Tuan Tuan did not respond and after a series of seizures on Saturday was placed in an induced coma, according to Taiwanese news reports. Tuan Tuan and his mate, Yuan Yuan, were gifted to the zoo in 2008 during a time of warming relations between China and Taiwan, which split amid civil war in 1949. Both were born in China in 2004 and succeeded in having a pair of cubs in Taiwan. The average life span for pandas in the wild is 15-20 years, while they can live for 30 years under human care.