Tai Shan (giant Panda)
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Tai Shan (, , also known as Butterstick after birth and before naming)"Pandamaniacs Want 'Butterstick,'" '' The Washingtonian'', Garrett M. Graff, October 5, 2005. is a
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. ...
born at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., on July 9, 2005. He is the first panda cub born at the National Zoo to survive for more than a few days. He is the oldest brother of
Bao Bao Bao Bao (, meaning "treasure"; colloquially meaning "baby") is a female giant panda bear who was born at the National Zoological Park (United States), National Zoo in Washington, D.C. She lived at the Zoo for four years until February 2017. She i ...
, Bei Bei and Xiao Qi Ji.


Lineage

Tai Shan is the first cub born on July 9, 2005, at 3:41 am to Mei Xiang () and Tian Tian (), the National Zoo's second pair of giant pandas. (The first pair, Ling-Ling (female) and Hsing-Hsing (male), were donated to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
by
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
in 1972, shortly after
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
's historic visit. Ling-Ling died in 1992 and Hsing-Hsing in 1999 without producing any cubs that survived for more than a few days.) Both of Tai Shan's parents were born at the China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong, Sichuan Province. Mei Xiang, his mother, was artificially inseminated in March 2005 with sperm from Tian Tian after natural mating between the pair appeared unsuccessful. Per the agreement with China, the Chinese government can require that Tai Shan be sent to China any time after he reaches the age of two as he, like his parents, is the property of China. (Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are technically being "leased" to the National Zoo by the Chinese government in a ten-year, $10 million agreement, with the money to go to panda conservation research in China.) The National Zoo announced in April 2007 that it reached an agreement with the Chinese government to let Tai Shan remain at the National Zoo until at least July 2009. The announcement was made when Chinese Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong presented Tai Shan a "passport" with an extended stay period to July 2009, without extra charge.


Naming

Following a Chinese tradition, panda cubs are not named until they are 100 days old. Before he got a
name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...
, the cub was popularly referred to as Butterstick because immediately after his birth, a zoo worker described him as being about the size of a stick of
butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...
. The name caught on with
blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
gers, and became quite popular. In fall 2005, the National Zoo announced that the cub's name would be chosen through an
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
poll Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Forms of voting and counting * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling pla ...
. There were five names included on the poll; all were traditional Chinese names approved by the China Wildlife Conservation Association. The choices were Hua Sheng ("Washington" or "magnificent"), Sheng Hua ("Washington China" and "magnificent"), Tai Shan ("peaceful mountain"), Long Shan ("dragon mountain"), and Qiang Qiang ("strong, powerful"). "Butterstick" was not included as an option. Some bloggers protested this decision; there was even an attempt to hack the poll, allowing voters the option of selecting the name Butterstick. Despite these efforts, the name Tai Shan was eventually chosen, as it had won 44 percent of the 202,045 total votes cast.


Media attention

Tai Shan made his public debut on December 8, 2005, after the National Zoo issued 13,000 free timed entry tickets. These tickets were gone within 2 hours, and some were quickly offered for sale on
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and
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, with an asking price as high as $500 apiece. The cub became widely popular; he was frequently mentioned on D.C.-oriented
websites A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education ...
, such as ''
DCist American news websites Mass media in Washington, D.C. DCist began as a volunteer-run blog focused on Washington, D.C., in the same family of "-ist" websites as Gothamist, LAist, and Chicagoist. A professional editor began steering the publi ...
'' and ''
Wonkette ''Wonkette'' is an American online magazine of topical and political gossip, established in 2004 by Gawker Media and founding editor Ana Marie Cox. The editor since 2012 is Rebecca Schoenkopf, formerly of '' OC Weekly''. ''Wonkette'' covers U. ...
'', as well as traditional
media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...
outlets, including
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
, '' The Washingtonian'', ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', and ''
The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...
''. Fans set up sites selling cub-related merchandise, including one partnered with cafepress.com that donated approximately $1,900 in profits to the National Zoo. The panda cub was featured in an
Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...
documentary titled ''A Panda Is Born'', which follows the National Zoo's giant panda breeding efforts and Tai Shan's birth. A few months after Tai Shan's first birthday,
Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...
premiered a documentary titled ''Baby Panda's First Year'', which followed him during his first 12 months at the National Zoo.


First birthday

At the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., Tai Shan and thousands of fans celebrated his first birthday on July 9, 2006. As early as 7 am, National Zoo visitors started to line up outside the panda exhibit, with the opening three hours away. One of his gifts was a giant custom-made fruitsicle with the number "1" on top. Such ice treats gave Tai Shan some gastrointestinal problems which he has now recovered from. After 2007, Tai Shan lived on his own at the zoo, because cubs leave their mothers at about two years of age and fathers play no role in cub rearing.


Move to China

The National Zoo announced on Dec. 4, 2009, that Tai Shan would leave the zoo and be sent to China, in accordance with previous agreements. Zoo officials had asked for Tai Shan to remain in Washington for another year, but China declined the request. According to the original agreement, Tai Shan was to return to China two years after he was born. China had already allowed him to stay for another two and a half years beyond the initial agreement. He left D.C. for China on February 4, 2010 (on the same flight as Mei Lan from
Zoo Atlanta Zoo Atlanta (sometimes referred as Atlanta Zoo) is an Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited zoo in Atlanta, Georgia. The current president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta is Raymond B. King. History Zoo Atlanta was founded in 1889, when b ...
). He moved 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 ...
, in
Ya'an Ya'an ( zh, s=雅安, p=Yǎ'ān, w=Ya-an) 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 Project 211, 211 Project ...
,
Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
, but in 2014 moved again to the Dujiangyan base of Sichuan Province's China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.


Fatherhood

Tai Shan mated with Wen Yu. On August 19, 2020, he became the father of Bai Feng (male) - one of the twin cubs born to Xiao Bai Tu. In 2021, he fathered Hua Bao and an unnamed male, male twin cubs born to Ying Hua.


See also

*
List of giant pandas This is a partial list of giant pandas, both alive and deceased. The giant panda is a conservation-reliant species, conservation-reliant vulnerable species. Wild population estimates of the bear vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 ...
*
List of individual bears The following is a list of individual bears ( other than individual giant pandas) which garnered national or worldwide attention: Actors * Bart the Bear, a male Alaskan Kodiak bear, played the leading role in the 1988 wilderness drama, '' The Be ...


References

*


External links


nationalzoo.si.edu
National Zoo in Washington D.C.
Tai Shan Panda Fans
(disabled) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tai Shan (Panda) Individual giant pandas 2005 animal births