PANDAS RUB NOSES

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31020, 28 March 1966, Page 15

PANDAS RUB NOSES

(N.Z Press Assn—Copyright) MOSCOW, March 27. It looks like love at first sniff for Chi-Chi and An-An, Europe’s only giant pandas, the Associated Press said today.

The two pandas met on their first blind date yesterday and rubbed noses in an animal-world kiss. Zoo officials were so pleased that they issued what sounded like a high society wedding announcement, the news agency said. It began: “Dr. Igor Sosnovsky, director of the Mos-

cow Zoo, and Dr Oliver Gra-ham-Jones, senior veterinary officer of the London Zoo, are happy to announce that An-An and Chi-Chi, the giant pandas, are now side by side in the same building.” An-An, the Moscow Zoo’s boy giant panda, was put into a cage adjoining Chi-Chi, the London’s Zoo’s girl giant panda.

They were separated by an iron grill which allowed them to rub noses and touch paws. They did. Their barking conversation never lagged during the first date.

The animals are the only known giant pandas in captivity outside China. Neither has seen another panda since [shortly after birth.

The match has been two years in the making and is considered an important zoological event. Chi-Chi had to wait 15 days in Moscow before she got a look at An-An, just getting used to Moscow life. Zoo officials were so cautious that they kept today's introduction a secret until the meeting had proved successful.

Dr. Graham-Jones said it would be a couple of days before the two pandas could be brought together in the same cage.

The pandas will be watched to determine “whether he is willing and she is ready” for 1 married life, he added.