Lin Yuan

Lin Yuan is a male giant panda born on 2013-05-27 at Chiang Mai Zoo. He is registered under studbook number 1002 in the global giant panda studbook system, which tracks captive giant panda populations across international breeding programs. His birth marked the second successful captive giant panda birth at Chiang Mai Zoo, a site that has hosted giant pandas since a 2003 cooperative conservation agreement between China and Thailand. He is the offspring of Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui. Chuang Chuang, studbook number 901, and Lin Hui, studbook number 902, were a breeding pair loaned to Chiang Mai Zoo from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. Both parents were born in captivity at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China. Currently living at Chiang Mai Zoo, he participates in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ global captive giant panda conservation education program. The program introduces Southeast Asian visitors to giant panda ecology and the threats wild giant pandas face in their native mountain habitats. He also contributes to public outreach events that raise funds for in situ giant panda conservation work in China. As a gentle, bamboo-eating giant panda, Lin Yuan draws millions of visitors to Chiang Mai Zoo annually, boosting local tourism and public awareness of endangered species conservation. His presence strengthens international cooperative conservation partnerships for the species, which was upgraded from Endangered to Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List in 2016 due to decades of successful conservation intervention.