Hua Mei (; intended meaning: "China/USA") (born August 21, 1999) is a female

giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes us ...

. She is the first giant panda cub to survive to adulthood in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She was born to

Bai Yun Bai Yun (; born September 7, 1991) was the first female giant panda who was born at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in China. From September 1996 she lived at the San Diego Zoo for more than 20 years, until being returned to China in May ...

(mother) and Shi Shi (father) at the

San Diego Zoo The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, housing 4000 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies on of Balboa Park leased from the City of San Diego. Its parent organization, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, is a p ...

. Millions of people around the world watched Hua Mei grow up via the zoo's Panda Cam. Hua Mei is the elder half-sister to five other cubs born to Bai Yun:

Mei Sheng Mei Sheng (, lit. "Beautiful Life" or "Born in the USA"; born August 19, 2003) is a male giant panda born at the San Diego Zoo. He is the second panda to be born at the zoo and is the first offspring of Bai Yun and Gao Gao. He is the half-brothe ...

, Su Lin,

Zhen Zhen Zhen may refer to: * Towns of China, called zhèn () in Chinese * True (China), ''zhen'' in Chinese * Zhen (surname) (), a Chinese surname * Balhae Kingdom, originally called Zhen () in Chinese * Lady Zhen (183-221), wife of Cao Pi of Cao Wei of th ...

Yun Zi Yun Zi () is a male giant panda born at the San Diego Zoo on August 5, 2009. His name is "Son of Cloud (Yun)" in Chinese.Xiao Liwu Xiao Liwu (; meaning: "Little Gift") is a male giant panda born at the San Diego Zoo on July 29, 2012. Xiao Liwu is the sixth cub born to his mother Bai Yun, and the fifth for his father Gao Gao. He has one half-sister, Hua Mei, through Bai Yun. H ...

. These cubs' father is

Gao Gao Gao Gao () is a male giant panda formerly at the San Diego Zoo. He was returned to China in 2018. To date, he has fathered five giant pandas in captivity. History Gao Gao was born in the wild in China, around 1990, and was taken to the Fengtongzh ...

. In February 2004, upon reaching adulthood, Hua Mei was relocated to the

Wolong Reserve Wolong National Nature Reserve (), also known as Wolong Special Administrative Region (), is a protected area located in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China. Established in 1963 with an initial size of about 20,000 hecta ...

Sichuan Province Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, where she is reportedly doing very well. By the end of 2007, she has given birth to 3 sets of twins: male twins Tuan Tuan and Mei Ling on September 1, 2004, male/female twins Wei Wei and Ting Ting on August 29, 2005, and another set of male twins, Hua Long and Hua Ao, on 16 July 2007. After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake damaged much of the giant panda facility in Wolong, Hua Mei was relocated to the

Bifengxia Panda Base Bifengxia Giant Panda Base () is a giant panda research and breeding facility in Bifengxia Town, Ya'an, Sichuan, China. Since opening in 2004, it has become home to several more giant pandas. This includes the U.S.-born Hua Mei and Mei Sheng, who ...

Ya'an Ya'an (, Tibetan: Yak-Nga ) is a prefecture-level city in the western part of Sichuan province, China, located just below the Tibetan Plateau. The city is home to Sichuan Agricultural University, the only 211 Project university and the largest ...

. In July 2009, Hua Mei gave birth to a single female cub named Hao Hao. Hua Mei delivered her eighth cub, a male named Yang Hu in September 2010. Then she gave birth to her ninth cub, a female named Jia Jia in August 2012 and a tenth cub, a male, in July 2013. In July 2018, she gave birth to a set of male/female twins named Yi Yi and Jiu Jiu. In October 2019, she gave birth to a set of female twins named Meng Meng and Jin Du Du.

Notes

External links

Panda Profile at San Diego Zoo

{{Authority control Individual giant pandas 1999 animal births San Diego Zoo

See also

Notes

External links