Japan’s oldest panda Tantan dies at age 28

The Kobe City Oji Zoo (located in the city’s Nada Ward) announced on the 1st that the giant panda “Dantan” (female) died at 11:56 pm on March 31st. At 28 years old, he is the oldest person in Japan, and according to Chinese experts, is the equivalent of nearly 100 years of human age. Although his loan contract from China temporarily expired in July 2020, he was unable to return home due to the coronavirus pandemic and a heart condition that was discovered in 2021, and he died in Kobe, where he had spent 23 and a half years.

According to the zoo, his condition further progressed from March 15th, and on March 31st, he suffered cardiopulmonary arrest and although resuscitation efforts were performed, he was confirmed dead.

Tantan was born in September 1995 at a breeding center in Sichuan, China. In July 2000, the first male, Koukou, visited Oji Zoo to conduct research on joint breeding and rearing between Japan and China and to cheer up the victims of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.

In the hopes of breeding, artificial insemination with the second-generation Koukou was successful twice, but the first time the baby was stillborn, and in 2008 she gave birth to a baby, but it died three days later. After Koukou suddenly died in 2010, he became the only panda at the zoo.

The loan agreement with China was extended for five years in 2010 and 2015, and will expire in July 2020. Due to the wishes of the Chinese side, it was not renewed and he was returned to his home province of Sichuan, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, direct flights were not resumed, so he remained at the zoo.

He started having arrhythmia in January 2021, and a thorough examination in April revealed he had heart disease. Since then, he has been undergoing treatment with medication, and public viewing has been suspended since March 2022. His contract was set to be returned in 2020, and was extended five times by the end of 2023, and he was scheduled to stay in Kobe until the end of 2024.