Fu Hu

Fu Hu (Chinese name 福虎, studbook number 753) is a male giant panda born on August 23, 2010 at Tiergarten Schönbrunn in Vienna, Austria. His parents are Yang Yang (studbook 512), a female panda on long-term loan to the Austrian zoo from China, and male panda Long Hui (studbook 390), who was also part of the Sino-Austrian collaborative giant panda breeding program at the time of Fu Hu’s birth. As a captive-bred individual, he is classified as a legally protected animal under both international endangered species agreements and Chinese domestic conservation regulations, with his lineage and life history formally documented in the global giant panda studbook registry.

In line with standard international panda loan terms that require offspring born to loaned pandas to be returned to China once they reach early maturity, Fu Hu was transferred to the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda on August 23, 2011, his first birthday. He has resided at the facility continuously since that time, and now participates in the center’s coordinated captive breeding program for the species. As an adult male, he exhibits species-typical behavioral patterns, devoting the majority of his daily active period to foraging on bamboo varieties cultivated and supplied by the center’s animal care team.

Fu Hu’s birth at Tiergarten Schönbrunn drew widespread public attention across Central Europe, driving increased visitor engagement with the zoo’s conservation exhibits and raising broader public awareness of the threats facing wild giant panda populations in their native range in southwest China. His inclusion in the national captive breeding program in China supports core conservation goals of maintaining high genetic diversity within the global ex situ panda population, reducing the risk of inbreeding and supporting the long-term sustainability of the species as wild populations continue to face habitat fragmentation and other environmental pressures.