The craze for these ursids is unabated. From 8 a.m. this Saturday, a large queue formed at the entrance to the Beauval zoo (Loir-et-Cher), where the two baby pandas, females were presented to the public for the first time. born four months ago right here. Dressed from head to toe in the effigy of plantigrades (sweatshirt, scarf, pants, shoes, and even masks), Véronique and her husband Patrice made the trip from Bordeaux (Gironde). They carry a banner on which we can read: "Team Panda". “We couldn't be there on the day of the birth. We had to be here this morning ", explain in chorus these" absolute fans ".
After booking accommodation in the region, they hit the road on Friday afternoon, joined by a friend who left Montpellier (Hérault).
Paul, in his twenties, has made a two-hour drive from Orléans (Loire) to admire and photograph Huanlili and Yuandudu, through the large bay windows that separate them from visitors.
He made up himself for the occasion and wears a fleece with a hood representing a panda's head.
“It's like a culmination for me to be here this morning.
I've been following them on the park's social networks for months.
This double birth is only the second in France, after that in 2017 of Yuan Meng, the big brother of Huanlili and Yuandudu, also in Beauval.
Paul drove two hours from Orleans to admire and photograph Huanlili and Yuandudu.
LP / Christian Panvert
A still endangered species
In the pandas gallery, Paul rubs shoulders with Lola, 11, and Lylou, 12.
The young girls, who live not far from there, in Romorantin, were already there, during the baptism ceremony, last month, with footballer Kylian Mbappé as godfather of one of the two little furballs.
“
It's extraordinary to see that in our country.
Super cabbage, they look like cuddly toys.
They are too cute, they do stunts.
Sometimes I'm afraid they'll hurt each other, ”sighs Lylou.
Dressed from head to toe in the effigy of plantigrades, Véronique and her husband Patrice traveled from Bordeaux to find their friend Agathe, who came from Montpellier.
LP / Christian Panvert
Present a few meters away, Baptiste Mulot, veterinary manager of the park, is reassuring: “Pandas are daredevils: they climb, fall, let themselves slide. They are extremely flexible. "He is delighted to see so many visitors:" The panda is the symbol of endangered species and ... conservation work, "he recalls.
Properties of the Chinese government, these animals should then join between the age of one and a half and three years the reproduction center of the giant pandas of Chengdu, where their parents come from.
After a long decline, the population of giant pandas has increased by 17% in ten years, thanks to the establishment of conservation programs and nature reserves, in the center and west of the Middle Empire.
Formerly listed on the global red list of threatened species, the plantigrade has moved from the “endangered” to “vulnerable” category.
However, it is still threatened by deforestation and climate change.
