South Korea zoo names its 3-month-old twin panda ‘treasures’

The female cubs – named Rui Bao, or “wise treasure”, and Hui Bao, “shining treasure” – were born at the Everland theme park near the capital Seoul on July 7, and have since been showered with an outpouring of excitement and affection.

Some half a million panda lovers helped choose their names via online voting, the zoo said, with a handful of lucky fans invited to Thursday’s ceremony.

Lee Da-young, a 20-year-old university student, said it was her third visit to the zoo in two months to see the pandas.

“I’ve always liked pandas, so I came to Everland last week and also a month ago,” Lee said. “But I’m honoured to have come again on such a great opportunity.

“They are even cuter in real life than they appear on screen,” she said.

“I feel healed whenever I watch their videos,” said 31-year-old office worker Jung Hyun-ye, who regularly watches the twice-weekly clips.

South Korean park releases photos of 1-month-old twin panda cubs

“I think I’m healed by their harmless expressions and relaxed manner,” she added.

The cubs, which have just begun teething and crawling, are very healthy, zookeeper Kang Chul-won told reporters.

They will likely be revealed to the public early next year, the zoo said in a statement.

In July 2020, the pair gave birth to a daughter, Fu Bao, the first giant panda born in South Korea via natural breeding.

Beijing only loans pandas to foreign zoos, which must usually return any offspring within a few years of their birth to join the country’s breeding programme.