Ying Ping

Ying Ping (Chinese: 瑛萍) is a female giant panda born on August 12, 2003, at Beijing Zoo, with the official global giant panda studbook number 330. She is the daughter of sire Yong Ming and dam Qing Qing, who holds studbook number 298; both of her parents are captive-bred individuals housed in Chinese conservation facilities, and her full lineage is thoroughly documented as part of the national long-term captive giant panda breeding monitoring framework. Ying Ping has resided in accredited managed care facilities for her entire life, with her first year spent at Beijing Zoo before her first recorded transfer.

On August 12, 2004, her first birthday, Ying Ping was transferred to the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, where she remains housed as of current records. As a healthy adult member of the managed captive giant panda population, she participates in the coordinated global captive breeding program for the species, an initiative designed to preserve and maintain genetic diversity across the global captive population to support long-term species resilience. Her well-documented genetic background makes her a particularly valuable individual for breeding and conservation research efforts, as it allows conservation staff to make data-driven pairing decisions to avoid inbreeding and strengthen the overall health of the captive population.

Ying Ping exhibits species-typical daily behaviors, including devoting the majority of her active hours to foraging for bamboo, the primary component of the giant panda diet, alongside regular resting periods and occasional enrichment activities provided by facility care staff. She is a popular subject for visitor observation at her host facility, and she plays a regular role in the center’s public ecological education programming, helping to communicate the progress of giant panda conservation efforts to domestic and international audiences. Her life history, from birth at a major urban zoo to long-term residency at a leading conservation research institution, also serves as a documented case study for researchers evaluating the welfare and adaptability of captive giant pandas across different managed care settings.