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Taipei Zoo Celebrates Baby Panda’s with Zhuazhou Ritual

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Post date:2021-06-30

Updates:2021-06-30

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Giant panda Yuan Bao is now one-year-old! However, due to the quasi-lockdown which started in May, the baby panda will not see visitors crowding outside its home to witness the celebrations.

Nonetheless, to celebrate the wonderful occasion with the public, Taipei Zoo organized an online broadcast on the day of the cub’s birthday starting at 11:20 AM over the streaming platforms Facebook, Instagram, MOD, and Hami Video.

The Taiwanese tradition involves toddlers participating in a ritual on their first birthday – the “One-month-old Grab (Zhuazhou)”. During the ritual, the toddler picks one object from among a pool of items. Each of these object symbolizes a different kind of future career choice. For Yuan Bao, the zookeepers prepared 5 bamboo tubes where each one has a choice written on them – vet, nutritionist, zookeeper, CEO, and animal conservationist.
Taipei Zoo Celebrates Baby Panda’s with Zhuazhou RitualTaipei Zoo Celebrates Baby Panda’s with Zhuazhou Ritual
With the help of his zookeeper, the panda cub pounced on the tube marked “nutritionist” and successfully completing the ritual. However, the cub’s action was so rough that the tubes labeled “zookeeper” and “vet” also fell down – and all became toys for the excited cub.

Taipei Zoo also prepared a special birthday cake for the cub. The ingredients include double-layer ice decorated with apples spelling out the words of “safe and happiness.” On the other hand, the grapes on the ice also form the words “stay home”, reminding viewers to stay home and keep safe.

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