One Of Taiwan’s Giant Pandas, Tuan Tuan, Has Died At Age 18 After A Battle With A Serious Brain Disease
One of Taiwan’s giant pandas, Tuan Tuan, has died after a battle with a serious brain disease. He was 18.
One of Taiwan’s giant pandas, Tuan Tuan, has died after a battle with a serious brain disease. He was 18.
Tuan Tuan had suffered several seizures on Saturday Nov. 19 despite vets repeatedly administering anti-seizure injections.
In September, a MRI scan revealed that Tuan Tuan had encephalomalacia, a brain disease that softens and causes the loss of brain tissue, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.
The discovery came after Tuan Tuan started losing his appetite and suffered a three minute seizure, which prompted zookeepers to investigate his condition.
A final CT scan had shown that his condition had become irreversible.
After a detailed assessment, Taipei zoo staff and the medical team decided to anesthetize Tuan Tuan. He died in his sleep at 1:48pm.
Tuan Tuan is one of the two pandas China gifted to Taiwan in 2008 under the so-called “panda diplomacy”.
Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, the female panda, both lived at Taipei Zoo and had two offspring, Yuan Zai and Yuan Bao, both female giant pandas, born in 2013 and 2020 respectively.
