I wasn’t going to post this one, but what the heck. It happened a few days ago, and it’s an interesting obit for any animal lovers we have.Besides, he fathered over 100 pandas.
Pan Pan, world's oldest male panda and 'hero father,' dead at 31 - NY Daily News
Bamboo-hoo.
The world said goodbye this week to a prolific provider of panda progeny, as Pan Pan, the world's oldest male panda, has died, Xinhua reports.
His cute kind rarely living beyond 20 years of age, this giant among giant pandas would lend a lusty paw as he helped get his species off the International Union for Conservation of Nature's list of endangered animals.
Described as a "hero father," 25% of all pandas living in captivity are descendants of Pan Pan, according to CNN.
The cuddly creatures are now classified as vulnerable by the organization, as less than 2,000 pandas exist in the wild.
Pan Pan, whose name means “Expectation,” was diagnosed with cancer in June and lived out the last of his days at what amounted to a panda nursing home until he died Dec. 28.
In his youth, this bold breeder of black-and-white bears was in "full blossom" toward the end of the 1990s, according to a post on the China Panda Protection and Research Center's Weibo page.
"I heard old employees talk about Pan Pan — how strong and virile he was," the post states. "In the mating season, he was particularly excited and rugged, covered with hormones from top to bottom.”
Left to mourn him are his son Bai Yun of the San Diego Zoo, grandson Tai Shan of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and approximately 130 other descendants.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pan-pan-world-oldest-male-panda-hero-father-dead-31-article-1.2928973pictures and video at source
