* Animal News

World's Oldest Panda Dies in China
By VOA News
13 July 2005


Chinese officials say the world's oldest panda in captivity has died at the age of 36.

Mei Mei passed away Tuesday at the zoo in the southwestern city of Guilin, where she had lived for the last 20 years.

Experts say Mei Mei's age made her the equivalent of more than 100 in human years.

Mei Mei's death came on the same day that Chinese media reported the birth of a second set of rare twin panda cubs at the Wolong panda reserve in the southwest province of Sichuan.