Tong Tong
童童
40 years old
Ueno Zoo
Tong Tong (童童) was the first giant panda conceived and raised entirely in Japan. Born June 1, 1986 at Ueno Zoo to Fei Fe...
View profilePlace archive
Ueno Zoo
zoo Tokyo, Japan
Ueno Zoo, located in Taito Ward, Tokyo, is Japan’s oldest operating zoological park, housing over 2,600 individual animals representing 450+ species including *Ailuropoda melanoleuca* (giant panda), *Gorilla gorilla gorilla* (western lowland gorilla), *Panthera tigris altaica* (Siberian tiger), and *Grus japonensis* (red-crowned crane). It operates under the governance of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Environment, holds full accreditation from the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) and World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA
Ueno 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.
How this page is organized
Start with the pandas, then move outward into the surrounding archive
This page gathers the residents linked to Ueno Zoo, the key moments recorded here, nearby institutions, and the articles that add context.
Resident archive
Pandas connected to this place
3 pandas recorded
Born here
Pandas whose birth place is recorded as Ueno Zoo.
Previously recorded here
Pandas that were once linked to this institution.
Kang Kang
康康
56 years old
Ueno Zoo
Kang Kang (康康, studbook #122) was a male giant panda discovered in the wild of Baoxing, Sichuan in February 1972 and gif...
View profileLan Lan
兰兰
56 years old
Ueno Zoo
Lan Lan (兰兰, studbook #123) was a female giant panda gifted by China to Japan in 1972 to mark the normalization of diplo...
View profileTong Tong
童童
40 years old
Ueno Zoo
Tong Tong (童童) was the first giant panda conceived and raised entirely in Japan. Born June 1, 1986 at Ueno Zoo to Fei Fe...
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Media gallery
Images and video connected to Ueno Zoo.
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Recorded moments
Archive timeline at Ueno Zoo
2026
Aug 17
Ueno Zoo Panda Enclosure Demolished
Ueno Zoo began demolishing the East Garden panda enclosure, which once housed 10 pandas including Xiang Xiang, Xiao Xiao, and Lei Lei. The building had deteriorated with age. Fans gathered the day before for a final farewell.
Read update 2024
Apr 16
Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei Separated
Ueno Zoo separated the twin pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei for individual display, as both exceeded 70 kg and required separate enclosures.
Read update 2023
Mar 10
Lei Lei Separated from Mother
Lei Lei began independent living at Ueno Zoo, separated from mother Shin Shin following standard panda management protocol for sub-adults.
Read update 2023
Mar 10
Xiao Xiao Begins Independent Living
Xiao Xiao began independent living at Ueno Zoo, separated from mother Shin Shin following standard panda management protocol for sub-adults.
Read update 2022
May 13
Xiao Xiao First Solid Food
Xiao Xiao ate his first apple cube at Ueno Zoo, marking the start of his transition from mother's milk to solid foods like bamboo and fruit.
Read update 2022
Jan 12
Lei Lei Debuts at Ueno Zoo
Lei Lei made her public debut at Ueno Zoo via lottery — only 1 in 348 applicants won admission. The zoo opened 2 hours daily for 1,080 visitors.
Read update 2022
Jan 12
Xiao Xiao Debuts at Ueno Zoo
Xiao Xiao made his public debut at Ueno Zoo via lottery — only 1 in 348 applicants won admission. The zoo opened 2 hours daily for 1,080 visitors.
Read update 2021
Oct 8
Lei Lei Named at Ueno Zoo
Lei Lei was named from 192,712 public submissions. Her name (蕾蕾, "Budding Flower") was announced alongside twin Xiao Xiao's on Oct 8, 2021.
Read update 2021
Oct 8
Xiao Xiao Named at Ueno Zoo
Xiao Xiao was named from 192,712 public submissions. His name (晓晓, "Dawn") was announced alongside twin Lei Lei's on Oct 8, 2021.
Read update 2021
Jun 23
In the library
Further reading on Ueno Zoo
Featured
Culture 📚 general
Where Pandas Live: The Complete Global Distribution Guide
The giant panda diaspora spans 58 locations across continents — from the misty bamboo forests of Sichuan to climate-controlled enclosures in Singapore, from mountain reserves that shelter free-ranging pandas to urban zoos that host celebrities. This article provides the definitive guide to panda geography: where they live, why they're there, what the distribution reveals about conservation history, and how the map has changed from 1869 to today.
distribution geography locations
+4
Featured
Culture 📚 general
Japan's Panda Era: 54 Years of Ueno, Adventure World, and Kobe's Giant Pandas
From the 1972 arrival of diplomatic gifts Kang Kang and Lan Lan to the January 2026 departure of Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, this guide traces every giant panda that has lived in Japan across three institutions — Ueno Zoo, Adventure World in Wakayama, and Kobe Oji Zoo — and explains why Japan, for the first time since 1972, now has none.
13 pandas
japan ueno-zoo adventure-world
+7
Culture 📚 general
International Vet Cooperation: Solving Overseas Panda Health Crises
When a panda falls ill in a zoo thousands of miles from China, the response is not local — it is global. Chinese veterinary teams fly to foreign zoos within 48 hours. Foreign keepers travel to China for specialized training. Video consultations connect specialists across continents in real time. This article explores the hidden international medical network that keeps the global panda diaspora healthy — from emergency surgeries in Europe to chronic disease management in Asia, and the shared medical knowledge that saves panda lives everywhere.
3 pandas
veterinary international-cooperation medicine
+3
World map
Where this place sits in the wider panda world
Click a marker to open the place page Panda counts reflect current archive records
📍 All Locations
Coordinates: 35.7161 N, 139.7711 E
Archive notes
About Ueno Zoo
Ueno Zoo, located in Taito Ward, Tokyo, is Japan’s oldest operating zoological park, housing over 2,600 individual animals representing 450+ species including Ailuropoda melanoleuca (giant panda), Gorilla gorilla gorilla (western lowland gorilla), Panthera tigris altaica (Siberian tiger), and Grus japonensis (red-crowned crane). It operates under the governance of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Environment, holds full accreditation from the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) and World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA