Zhu Yu

Zhu Yu, known in Chinese as 竹韵, is a female giant panda born on July 21, 2019, at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. Assigned the official global studbook number 1194, she has maintained consistent good health from birth through her current adult years. Her lineage is formally recorded in the global giant panda breeding registry overseen by Chinese conservation authorities, as the offspring of mother Ying Bin and a male giant panda with studbook number 1015.

On her first birthday, July 21, 2020, Zhu Yu was transferred to Zoo Aquarium de Madrid as part of the long-standing Sino-Spanish giant panda international cooperative breeding program, a bilateral partnership focused on supporting ex situ species conservation for the vulnerable giant panda. She has resided at the Madrid facility continuously since that transfer, where care teams monitor her health, diet, and behavioral patterns as part of standardized international panda welfare protocols.

Zhu Yu exhibits characteristic foraging behaviors of her species, devoting an average of 12 hours each day to feeding, with her diet consisting primarily of bamboo shoots and nutritionally balanced, specially formulated panda cakes. She has become a prominent educational attraction at Zoo Aquarium de Madrid, drawing consistent visitor interest that supports the facility’s public outreach efforts focused on giant panda conservation. Her public presence helps raise widespread awareness of threats including habitat loss facing wild giant panda populations in their native ranges in Sichuan, China, and contributes to funding streams directed at in situ conservation initiatives for wild panda habitats and populations. All care and research activities involving Zhu Yu are conducted in alignment with the terms of the Sino-Spanish cooperative agreement, with regular health and behavioral reports shared between Zoo Aquarium de Madrid staff and conservation experts at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda to support broader global panda conservation research.