Bai Yun (simplified Chinese: 白云; traditional Chinese: 白雲; meaning: "White Cloud") (born September 7, 1991) is a female giant panda currently at the San Diego Zoo. Bai Yun was the first successful birth of a giant panda at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in China.[1] She has been at the San Diego Zoo since September 10, 1996.[1]
Bai Yun's mother, Dong Dong was wild caught and was at the Panyu Xiangjiang Wild Animal World in Guangzhou at the time her death in 2011.[2][3] Bai Yun's father, Pan Pan, who is also the sire of Tian Tian, lives in Zunyi.
In the spring of 1999, Bai Yun was artificially inseminated with sperm from Shi Shi, the male panda at the zoo at that time. On August 21, 1999, Bai Yun gave birth to her first cub, Hua Mei, who is also the first giant panda born in the United States to survive to adulthood.
Bai Yun has since given birth to four other cubs, Mei Sheng (2003), Su Lin (2005), Zhen Zhen (2007), and Yun Zi (2009), all via natural mating. Bai Yun and these cubs' sire, Gao Gao, are considered the most reproductively successful panda parents in captivity.[4][5]
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