Wu Wen
武雯
12 years old
Ouwehands Zoo
Wu Wen (武雯) is a female giant panda born August 11, 2013 at Yaan Bifengxia Base. In April 2017 she traveled to Ouwehands...
captive-bred ouwehands-zoo netherlands
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View profile
Place archive
Ouwehands Zoo
zoo Rhenen, Netherlands
Ouwehands Zoo, located in Rhenen, Utrecht Province, Netherlands, is a 55-hectare zoological facility accredited by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and Nederlandse Vereniging van Dierentuinen (NVD), housing over 200 species including *Ailuropoda melanoleuca* (giant panda), *Gorilla gorilla gorilla* (western lowland gorilla), *Loxodonta africana* (African bush elephant), and *Ursus maritimus* (polar bear). Its signature Pandasia exhibit, opened in 2017 under a 15-year cooperative agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA), is the largest giant panda habitat in Europe, hosting individuals Xing Ya, Wu Wen, and their 2020-born cub Fan Xing, who was repatriated to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Bre
Ouwehands Zoo houses giant pandas under international loan agreement with the China Conservation and Research Center, as part of the cooperative panda diplomacy and ex-situ conservation network.
How this page is organized
Start with the pandas, then move outward into the surrounding archive
This page gathers the residents linked to Ouwehands Zoo, the key moments recorded here, nearby institutions, and the articles that add context.
Resident archive
Pandas connected to this place
2 pandas recorded
Currently at Ouwehands Zoo
The pandas currently recorded at this institution.
Xing Ya
星雅
12 years old
Ouwehands Zoo
Xing Ya (星雅) is a male giant panda born August 5, 2013 at Yaan Bifengxia Base. In April 2017 he traveled to Ouwehands Zo...
View profileRecorded moments
Archive timeline at Ouwehands Zoo
2022
Dec 23
Fan Xing's Sex Corrected to Female
A routine health check revealed that Fan Xing, initially believed to be male, was actually female — making international headlines as keepers had cared for her for over two years under the wrong assumption.
Read update 2020
Aug 14
Fan Xing Named at Ouwehands Zoo
On her 100th day, Fan Xing was officially named through a public vote. "Fan" honors Van Gogh, "Xing" comes from her father Xing Ya — together evoking the famous "Starry Night."
Read update 2020
May 1
Birth of Fan Xing
Fan Xing was born at Ouwehands Zoo in the Netherlands — the first giant panda ever born in the country, weighing a healthy size and conceived through natural mating.
Read update 2017
Apr 12
Xing Ya transferred to ouwehands_zoo
Xing Ya arrived at Ouwehands Zoo in the Netherlands alongside Wu Wen for a 15-year conservation partnership.
Read update 2017
Apr 11
2017
Apr 11
2014
Aug 9
In the library
Further reading on Ouwehands Zoo
Featured
Culture 📚 general
80 Years of Panda Diplomacy: From Wartime Gifts to Global Research Loans
Trace the transformation of giant panda diplomacy from 1941, when Soong Mei-ling gifted the first pandas to America, through the landmark 1972 Nixon-era exchange, to today's international research loan agreements that channel millions of dollars annually into wild habitat conservation. This is the untold story of how a reclusive mountain bear became the world's most powerful diplomatic animal.
2 pandas
diplomacy history panda-loan
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Nature 📚 general
Feeding Pandas Across Europe: The Transnational Bamboo Supply Chain
Every panda in a European zoo eats 12-38 kilograms of fresh bamboo daily — none of which grows naturally in European forests. This article traces the hidden logistics infrastructure: dedicated plantations in southern France, weekly refrigerated truck deliveries crossing borders, the economics of panda food, and the emergency networks that keep pandas fed when supply chains break.
1 panda
europe bamboo supply-chain
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World map
Where this place sits in the wider panda world
Click a marker to open the place page Panda counts reflect current archive records
📍 All Locations
Coordinates: 51.9564 N, 5.5925 E
Archive notes
About Ouwehands Zoo
Ouwehands Zoo, located in Rhenen, Utrecht Province, Netherlands, is a 55-hectare zoological facility accredited by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and Nederlandse Vereniging van Dierentuinen (NVD), housing over 200 species including Ailuropoda melanoleuca (giant panda), Gorilla gorilla gorilla (western lowland gorilla), Loxodonta africana (African bush elephant), and Ursus maritimus (polar bear). Its signature Pandasia exhibit, opened in 2017 under a 15-year cooperative agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA), is the largest giant panda habitat in Europe, hosting individuals Xing Ya, Wu Wen, and their 2020-born cub Fan Xing, who was repatriated to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Bre