Basi, the world’s oldest giant panda, who lived in captivity, has just died in China. The 37 years of her panda were equivalent to more than 100 humans and her body will remain in a museum that will bear her name.
The director of the Fuzhou Strait Panda Research and Exchange Center, Chen Yucun, explained that “Basi” died of multiple diseases that had affected him since last June, including cirrhosis and kidney problems.
“The body will be displayed in the Basi Museum, which is being built so that people will always remember her and share the spirit of harmonious development between human beings and nature,” Chen said.
Who was Basi?
It was the most famous panda in China, since in 1990 it was the prototype for Pan Pan, the mascot of the Asian Games held in Beijing.
Basi was born free in 1980, but at the age of four she was rescued by residents after falling into an icy river in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, and was later transferred to central Fuzhou.
Last August, the Guinness Book of Records confirmed that it was like the world’s oldest panda living in captivity. Panda bears that live in their natural habitat have an average life of 15 years.
Are there panda bears in the wild?
The giant panda only lives in the wild in west-central China. About 2,000 giant pandas live in the wild in western China, while about 400 are in captivity around the world.
In September 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature removed giant pandas from the endangered species list to classify them as a “vulnerable” species.