HELSINKI: Two giant pandas on loan from China have been unveiled at a zoo in central Finland and they have frolicked, galloped, climbed trees and played in the snow after a month-long quarantine.
Hua Bao, a four-year-old male, and three-year-old female Jin Baobao arrived in Finland on January 18 and were immediately renamed Pyry (Snowfall) and Lumi (Snow) in Finnish. The Ahtari Zoo, 330 kilometres north of Helsinki, built a special Panda House annex for the pair.
China agreed to loan the pandas for 15 years as a gift to Finland, which celebrated 100 years of independence from Russia last year.
China has presented pandas to countries as a sign of goodwill and closer political ties, with Finland being the first Nordic nation to receive them.
