Shuan Shuan, Mexico's longest-lived giant panda, celebrated her last birthday before passing away at the Chapultepec Zoo, which commemorated its 99th anniversary.
"With hundreds of drawings and a giant cake, with dates and apple, her favorite food, as part of her environmental enrichment, Shuan Shuan lived her last day full of joy," informed the Secretariat of the Environment (Sedema) in a statement.
The panda reached 35 years of life, which is more than double the average life span of these animals in the wild (15 years) and even the average life span in captivity (30 years), said the agency.
Her name means double double and she was so named because she had a twin when she was born on June 15, 1987. She was the seventh and last offspring of Pe-Pe and Ying-Ying, who were the first pandas to arrive in Mexico on September 10, 1975, three years after Mexico and China re-established diplomatic relations.
She was characterized for having a very good appetite, being very active and playful, but like all giant pandas, she could stay more than 2 hours resting on her pallet, according to Sedema.
"Thanks to the care of the great team of the General Directorate of Zoos and Wildlife Conservation, which includes the caretakers of the Giant Pandas Shuan Shuan and Xin Xin (we affectionately call them the 'panderos'), veterinarians, biologists and operational staff, Shuan Shuan became the longest-lived giant panda in Mexico and one of the giant pandas that have reached one of the oldest ages outside China, a source of pride for both Mexico and China," the statement said.
Eight giant panda cubs have been born at the Chapultepec Zoo. This species has moved away from extinction as there are currently more than 1,800 giant pandas in the wild in China and more than 500 in breeding centers and zoos, most of them in their country of origin.
Announcements & Information
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
- ❤️ Come listen to music with your fellow Hexbears in Cy.tube
- 💖 Come talk in the New weekly queer thread
- 🧡 Monthly Neurodiverse Megathread
- 💛 Read about a current topic in the news
- ⭐️ May Movie Schedule ⭐️
reminders:
- 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes struggle sessions over upbears
- 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
- 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can go here nerd
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
- 💙Comprehensive list of resources for those in need of an abortion -- reddit link
- 💙Resources for Palestine
Theory:
Irl friends and academic twitter friends talking about moving again in the hopes that the next position will maybe turn into a tenure track one. I'm just vibing, still 30 mins from the college I did my PhD at :grillman:
And people ask me why I didn't go into academia
ya if i ever go back to college its pretty likely im gonna try to go to grad school but after that maybe i'll apply in one cycle to academic positions but if i dont get a place ill just go do something else
It's the kind of lifestyle that sounds fun at 22 and awful at 30.
The professors I was tight with in undergrad were simultaneously like "You'd be a great candidate for a top grad program in this field!" and also "Grad school is for fucking suckers don't do it"
The academic track is very much a scam. Only 1 in 6 postdocs that want tenure track positions actually get them. These are people who got a PhD and then spent 2-4 years doing more of the same in order to become a professor.
At all levels of research academia, the economics are fairly simple and not a good deal for academic-track. You're underpaid (or not paid at all) based on the promise of what you can do next once you get that degree. But there aren't enough spots at the next level up, often comically few. Academic trackers are all gambling, hoping that their connections and papers and luck pay off. Then the ones that get through become professors and pretend to know exactly what you need to do to get through, even as 5/6 of their postdocs still can't find jobs. They go and recruit more students, more postdocs, saying they'll succeed on this track that primarily teaches them how to be the professor they'll never be. Cheap labor scam.