What’s it like being a parent in a foreign country? Panda mommy and daddy Ai Bao and Le Bao, who came to Korea from China eight years ago, know all about that. They have become parents twice over at Panda World, within Korea’s Everland Zoo. And now panda fans all around the world are enjoying videos on social media that show the life of a panda parent.
Ai Bao and Le Bao
Female and male pandas AI Bao and Le Bao came from China to Korea in 2016 to live at Everland’s Zoo. Then in 2020 the young panda couple became proud parents to their first daughter, named Fu Bao. And again in the summer of 2023, they welcomed another two pandas to the world with the birth of twin daughters Hui Bao and Lui Bao.
The five healthy pandas are living pleasant panda lifestyles, but first daughter Fu Bao will soon move to the land of her parents’ birth, to China, the natural habitat of giant pandas. There, it is hoped that she will someday start a family of her own.
Video series
Everland, Korea’s premier theme park, has released a new video series on its social media channels that gives rich insight into the lives of the Bao family of pandas, focusing on the growth, maturing, and parenthood of mother Ai Bao and father Le Bao.
The first video, episode 1 in a series “Panda Drama: Daddy Le Bao is LOVE”, shows a young Le Bao making his journey from Dujiangyan Panda Center in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, to Everland in Korea in early March 2016, and then his new life at Everland’s Panda World. First, we see him exploring his new environment, showing off his dance moves, and what appears to be a panda version of calisthenics.
[Embed video: Panda Drama: Daddy Le Bao is LOVE Episode 1 The Young Groaning Bao Becomes a Father]
Then we witness Le Bao’s wooing of young female panda Ai Bao and their budding romance. Le Bao looks proud at the birth of Fu Bao in the summer of 2020, and then, as Fu Bao grows big and with the birth of twins Hui Bao and Lui Bao in the summer of 2023, we watch as Le Bao comes to grips with the responsibilities of fatherhood. Episode 1 of the series was already viewed a half a million times across various social media platforms just a week after its posting in late January.
There is also a new series called “Love’s Diary” that shows the perspective of Ai Bao, mother to no fewer than three panda girls. Episode 1 is called “Thank you for coming to mommy!” and highlights Ai Bao’s maternal instincts and loving care for her children.
[Embed video Love’s Diary” Episode 1: Thank you for coming to mommy!]
In this episode, we see Ai Bao teaching Hui and Lui about the joys and flavors of bamboo shoots. The different personalities of the latest arrivals, twin cubs Lui Bao and Hui Bao, are highlighted. Also, Everland zookeeper Kang Chul-won, affectionately known as “the panda grandfather,” lends a hand looking after the youngsters, so that Ai Bao can have a break from intense mothering activities. And of course, there are many scenes of playing outside, rolling and climbing, sometimes upside down. This video was also viewed half a million times just a week after it was released.
Between the two recently uploaded videos, there have been a total of 1,100,000 accumulated views so far, as well as 100,000 likes and comments from panda fans worldwide. People are deeply moved by the pandas’ displays of affection, especially of Ai Bao towards her three daughters, picking them up gently with her strong mouth when they are too young to move around alone, and then later showing them how to walk along balance beam and eat bamboo.
Everland’s social media channels such as withEverland on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as PPUPPA tv: animal world on YouTube offer many thousands of videos of pandas and other attractions at Everland for the viewing delight of domestic and international fans.
