An An’ died at the age of 35 in Hong Kong recently. He was the world’s oldest living what?
Tortoise
Giant Panda
African Elephant
Cheetah
Answer: Giant Panda
An An, the oldest-ever male giant panda in captivity, died earlier this month age 35 at a Hong Kong theme park after his health deteriorated.
Also read: World’s oldest Magellanic penguin dies at 40 in San Francisco Zoo
An An lived most of his life at Ocean Park after he and a female panda were gifted to Hong Kong by China in 1999. The female panda, Jia Jia, died in 2016 at age 38, making her the oldest-ever female panda in captivity.
Ocean Park mourned An An as a family member who grew with the park and built bonds with locals and tourists.
“An An has brought us fond memories with numerous heart-warming moments. His cleverness and playfulness will be dearly missed,” Paulo Pong, chairman of Ocean Park Corporation, said in a statement.
Also read: Population of tigers nearly tripled in Nepal, but attack on humans cause alarm
An An had high blood pressure, a common condition among geriatric pandas. Over the past three weeks, An An had been kept out of sight from visitors at the park as his health worsened. He stopped eating solid food and was significantly less active in recent days.
Last week, hundreds left comments on an Ocean Park post about An An’s condition, wishing him a speedy recovery.
He was euthanized to prevent further suffering Thursday morning after veterinarians from Ocean Park and government authorities consulted the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, Ocean Park said.
“An An lived a full life that ended at the respectable age of 35 – the equivalent of 105 years in human age,” the statement read.
Hong Kong was given another panda pair — Ying Ying, a female, and a male, Le Le — in 2007 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the city’s return to China.
China commonly engages in “panda diplomacy” where the mammals exclusively found in China are leased to other countries as a sign of goodwill.
Amazon Quiz: This famous cartoon character made his debut in which decade?
Amazon Quiz: Annu Rani, recently came 7th in which event at the World Athletics Championship?
Amazon Quiz: One day on this planet takes about how many hours?
