Pan-kun (パン君, born October 1, 2001) is a young
chimpanzee in Japan often featured on the
NTV NTV may refer to:
Television
* NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh
* NTV (India), Telugu regional channel
* NTV (Kenya)
* NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia
* NTV (Newport Television ...
television show ''Tensai! Shimura Dōbutsuen'' (''天才！志村動物園'', lit. ''Genius! Shimura Zoo'') and the TBS program ''Dōbutsu Kisō Tengai!'' (''どうぶつ奇想天外!'', lit. ''Unbelievable Animals!''). Most of the segments feature him and his
bulldog
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.[Mount Aso
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest.
Mount or Mounts may also refer to:
Places
* Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England
* Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...]
, in the
Kumamoto Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to the northeast, Miyaza ...
of
Kyūshū. After moving in, Pankun has turned into the main event of the zoo, featuring daily stage shows of various themes in Japanese.
Attack
In 2012 when Pankun was performing for the Aso Cuddly Dominion Zoo, he attacked a student trainee staff and severely injured her. The attack was sudden and it left "cuts on her forehead, ears, ankles, and back." The woman was flown by a helicopter to a hospital where she was hospitalized for weeks. As a result, Pankun was forced to retire from the show business in the Cuddly Dominion zoo.
Legacy of the show
The show has also been translated into international versions; for Nickelodeon in India as ''The Munnabhai Show'', for
JET TV
Japan Entertainment Television, or JET TV, is a television station in Taiwan that broadcasts programs relating to aspects of Japanese culture. JET TV was founded in Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sover ...
in Taiwan (狗狗猩猩大冒險), for
Modern Nine in Thailand (ขำกลิ้งลิงกับหมา) and
TVB
Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and TVB ...
in Hong Kong (阿笨與阿占) as ''
The Adventures of Pan and James: Chimpanzee and Bulldog on Errands'', winning Best Foreign Purchased Program at the 2006
TVB Anniversary Awards
The TVB Anniversary Awards (), officially known as the TVB Awards Presentation, is an annual awards ceremony honoring TVB's programming achievements in Hong Kong television; despite claims that it is the region's equivalent to the American E ...
. Another show called ''We Are Friends'', which also involves a chimpanzee and a
French bulldog companion, was filmed in Thailand but aired on
Zhejiang TV
Zhejiang Television (ZJTV, ) is a satellite television channel owned by Zhejiang Radio and Television Group serving Zhejiang Province. It was launched on October 1, 1960.
History
January 1, 1994, Zhejiang TV program first started to use satell ...
.
See also
*
List of individual apes
This is a list of non-human apes of encyclopedic interest. It includes individual chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, and gibbons that are in some way famous or notable.
Actors
* Bam Bam, an orangutan, played Precious on the soap opera ...
References
{{Notable apes
Individual chimpanzees
2001 animal births
Primate attacks
Chimpanzee actors
Individual animals in Japan