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Chongqing Zoo

Located in Jiulongpo District, Chongqing, at the eastern edge of the Sichuan Basin, Chongqing Zoo is one of southwest China's core wildlife conservation institutions, home to over 230 animal species totalling more than 4000 individuals. Its flagship collection includes giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), South China tigers (Panthera tigris amoyensis) — listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List and Appendix I of CITES — and endemic Yangtze River species such as the Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) and Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis). The zoo works closely with the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding to manage the national captive panda studbook, and has collaborated with Calgary Zoo in Canada on panda reproductive physiology. The Giant Panda House dates from 1960 and was rebuilt in 1989 on the site of the original panda cave. It covers 11,000 square metres across an upper and a lower hall, terraced into the hillside in a style modelled on the Chongqing landscape, with bedrooms set into stone caves that stay cool in summer and warm in winter. Its outdoor yards are wide enough for dozens of animals to play at once, and the design is regarded as an early example of the ecological enclosure in China. Pandas on display have included Shuang Shuang, Qing Qing, Xin Xing, You You, Mang Zai, Liang Liang, Yue Yue, Yu Bei, Lan Xiang, Hao Qi, Ding Ding and Yu Bao. Chongqing Zoo was among the first institutions in China to breed giant pandas, and is one of only three city zoos in the country to have bred them independently. Since its first success it has produced 28 cubs across 21 litters, 16 of which survived, including five sets of twins and one set of triplets.

Chongqing Zoo houses giant pandas under international loan agreement with the China Conservation and Research Center, as part of the cooperative panda diplomacy and ex-situ conservation network.