Hong Kong (CNN) – An An, the world’s oldest giant panda, died in captivity on Friday after suffering health problems at the age of 35.
An An was given the theme park 23 years ago by the central Chinese government, with Jia Jia, a woman considered the largest panda in the world before she died in the year 2016 was the 38th year.
The pair has been seen by millions of visitors and school children over the years, many of whom expressed their memories of An An on Friday in photos and videos.
The average life expectancy of pandas in the wild is 14-20 years, but they can live very long in captivity, according to wildlife conservationists World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Pong said An An’s above average life expectancy indicates that the theme park continues to plague large pandas.
The theme park includes two other large pandas – a female Ying Ying and a male Le Le – donated by the Chinese government in 2007.
China has spent half a century trying to increase the population of its film animals, creating sprawling panda sanctuaries among the mountain ranges to save them from extinction.
It is very difficult to feed the giant pandas in captivity, but as the years go by, their numbers in the wild have increased in recent years.
In China, pandas are considered a kind of umbrella, which means that experts believe that measures to protect them will help protect other species, as well as the important ecosystem.
