Aihin

Aihin (Chinese name 爱浜, studbook number 661) is a female giant panda born on December 23, 2006, at Adventure World in Shirahama, Japan. She is the daughter of sire Eimei (also known as Yongming) and dam Meimei, who holds studbook number 480. As a captive-bred panda, her birth formed part of an early international collaborative giant panda conservation partnership between Japanese and Chinese wildlife institutions. On her first birthday, December 23, 2007, Aihin was transferred to the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in China, where she has resided permanently ever since.

At the China Conservation and Research Center, Aihin is a participant in the center’s coordinated ex situ conservation breeding program, a global initiative designed to maintain a healthy, genetically diverse captive giant panda population as a safeguard against species decline. Her documented lineage and consistent health data have supported long-term research into giant panda reproductive biology, dietary needs, and behavioral patterns, with findings regularly integrated into adaptive management plans for both captive and wild populations. Aihin displays species-typical foraging behaviors, spending the majority of her active daily hours consuming bamboo, consistent with the dietary patterns observed in both captive and wild giant panda groups.

Aihin has gained public attention in both Japan and China over the course of her life, serving as an informal soft cultural link between the two regions. Visitors and online followers often track her daily activities through official updates released by the research center, raising broader public awareness of giant panda conservation challenges. Her ongoing participation in the breeding program also directly supports species recovery efforts focused on restoring wild giant panda populations in their native mountain habitats across Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces in central China, as conservation teams work to expand suitable wild habitat and improve the long-term viability of wild groups.