Taipei to receive pandas from Shanghai this Saturday, will send gibbons in return

Taipei is set to welcome two pandas from Shanghai this Saturday as part of a species exchange agreement. The pandas, a male and female, are expected to arrive after a handover ceremony in Shanghai on Friday.

Taipei's Deputy Mayor Lin Yi-hua announced that the city will send a "white-handed gibbon" to Shanghai in return. This decision came after Shanghai Zoo determined it had sufficient genetic diversity in its black-footed penguins, the species originally intended for exchange. The agreement was modified to include the gibbon, with the memorandum of understanding recently finalized.

Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an had expressed a desire to introduce pandas from Shanghai during his visit in 2023. After three years of administrative processes, the exchange is finally materializing. The pandas will undergo a one-month quarantine upon arrival in Taiwan before being introduced to the public.

This animal exchange is the first between Taipei and Shanghai since 2014, when Taipei received pandas from Fuzhou. The process this time involved complex administrative procedures, highlighting a renewed effort in cross-strait animal cooperation.