Bao Er

Bao Er (Chinese name: 宝二, studbook number 1153) is a male giant panda born on August 1, 2019, at Moscow Zoo. He is the first offspring of giant pandas Ru Yi (studbook number 1150) and Ding Ding (studbook number 1151), who arrived at Moscow Zoo earlier in 2019 as part of a long-term collaborative giant panda conservation agreement between Chinese and Russian wildlife management institutions. His birth marked the first successful giant panda birth in the history of the Russian Federation, a milestone for the bilateral conservation partnership at the time. As a registered individual in the international giant panda studbook system, Bao Er’s lineage, health data, and movement are formally tracked to support evidence-based management of the global captive giant panda population.

Bao Er has resided at Moscow Zoo for his entire life, and as a subadult, he exhibits species-typical behaviors including specialized bamboo foraging, tree climbing, and extended rest periods aligned with the low metabolic needs of giant pandas. He is integrated into the zoo’s regular public education programming, where he serves as a tangible reference for zookeepers and educators to share information about giant panda ecology, the threats of habitat loss and fragmentation facing wild populations, and the role of international cooperation in species recovery. Moscow Zoo, a leading Eurasian wildlife conservation and research institution, incorporates observations of Bao Er’s behavior and development into shared global datasets on captive giant panda life history.

As a high-profile cultural and conservation ambassador, Bao Er is one of the most popular visitor attractions at Moscow Zoo, drawing hundreds of thousands of guests annually who seek to learn about the species. His inclusion in the global captive breeding pool contributes to efforts to maintain a genetically diverse, self-sustaining captive giant panda population, which acts as a safeguard against population decline and supports long-term wild conservation initiatives focused on protecting giant panda habitats in China’s Qinling and Minshan mountain ranges. His ongoing care and monitoring continue to generate data that informs best practices for giant panda husbandry across international zoological institutions.