Gu Gu (; 25 September 1999 – 16 January 2025) was a male

giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white animal coat, coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. ...

at the

Beijing Zoo Beijing Zoo is a zoological park in Xizhimen, Xicheng District, Beijing. Founded in 1906 during the late Qing dynasty, it is the oldest zoo in China and oldest public park in northern China. The zoo is also a center of zoological research that ...

, born on 25 September 1999 at the

Wolong National Nature Reserve Wolong National Nature Reserve (from Chinese ), officially known as Wolong Special Administrative Region, is a national protected area located in Wenchuan County in China. Established in 1963 with an initial size of about , the reserve was fur ...

. He received international attention for incidents in which he attacked

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...

visitors who trespassed into his enclosure.

First incident

On 19 September 2006, six year old Gu Gu bit a drunk Chinese man who had jumped into his enclosure and tried to hug him. Zhang Xinyan, a migrant worker from the central

Henan province Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Luo ...

, had drunk several beers before arriving at the zoo. He cleared the railing around the enclosure, managed to approach the panda undetected, and moved to hug him. The bear bit Zhang on both legs. In an attempt to stop the attack, Zhang said that he "...bit the panda on its back but its fur was too thick." Zoo officials sedated Gu Gu by spraying him with water. Zhang was hospitalized after the incident. The zoo reported that besides a one-and-a-half-day loss of appetite, Gu Gu was unharmed.

Second incident

A second incident occurred on 23 October 2007, when 15-year-old Li Xitao jumped the barrier and climbed into the panda exercise area where Gu Gu and another bear were being fed. He startled the 240-pound panda, who reacted by biting the boy on both legs, ripping chunks of flesh from both of them. Li, who was from

Hebei province Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

in northeast China and made a living in Beijing selling recyclables found on the street, had climbed into the panda enclosure out of "curiosity". According to medical officials, Li was so viciously attacked that his bones were showing, and bits of flesh were left behind in the ambulance. The attack was reported by witnesses to have lasted three to four minutes. Li was taken to the Beijing Children's Hospital. A zoo official named Zhang was quoted as saying "We have to prepare against such behavior," and that visitors should "act properly when visiting and love the animals." Zoo officials were reportedly considering unspecified measures to prevent further incidents. However, Zhang stated that the barrier around the exercise area could not be raised higher because it would block the view of the pandas.

Third incident

On 7 January 2009, Gu Gu again attacked another zoo visitor who climbed over the barrier into the enclosure to retrieve his five year old son’s dropped toy. Zhang Jiao of

Anhui province Anhui is an inland province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiangxi to the south, Hub ...

, like the previous two trespassers, sustained bite injuries to his legs and was hospitalized, where he had surgery for damage to major

ligaments A ligament is a type of fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bones to other bones. It also connects flight feathers to bones, in dinosaurs and birds. All 30,000 species of amniotes (land animals with internal bones) have ligam ...

. According to witnesses, Zhang appeared to first look around to see if pandas were nearby before jumping in to get the toy. Zoo workers were forced to use tools to pry Gu Gu's jaws apart when he would not let go of Zhang's legs. The repeated incidents involving the panda resulted in

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

describing Gu Gu as "not your typical soft and cuddly giant panda".

Visit by Melania Trump

In 2017,

First Lady of the United States First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is a title typically held by the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never been Code of law, codified or offici ...

Melania Trump Melania Knauss Trump (born Melanija Knavs, April26, 1970) is a Slovenian and American former model who is married to U.S. President Donald Trump. Since 2025, Melania Trump has served as the first lady of the United States, a role she previous ...

visited the Beijing Zoo during a trip to China, where she was allowed to meet and feed Gu Gu. She later signed a poster featuring the bear.

Illness and death

In early 2024, Gu Gu was moved to a non-public section of the Beijing Zoo to help him cope with medical conditions caused by aging. He died from heart and liver failure on 16 January 2025, at the age of 25.Giant panda Gu Gu passes away at Beijing Zoo
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References