One Less Panda At Chiba Prefecture Zoo

The intense summer heat has killed a lesser panda at a zoo in Chiba Prefecture, according to Kyodo News:

A 17-year-old male lesser panda has died of heatstroke at a zoo in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, zoo officials said Wednesday. The lesser panda, Jiro, was found collapsed last Thursday after he went out from his air-conditioned chamber. He later returned to the chamber by himself, but died the next day, according to the officials.

“We have raised lesser pandas for more than 20 years, and we have the know-how to protect them from the heat of summer,” an official said. “But the heat this summer has been beyond our imagination.” The temperature in Funabashi, neighboring Ichikawa, climbed to as high as 37.1 C on Thursday, according to the local meteorological observatory. Jiro was more than 80 years old in human years, “but he was fine before collapsing,” the official said.

According to TV news reports, the average lifespan of a lesser panda is 13 years, while wikipedia lists their average lifespan as “nine to ten years but can reach a maximum of fourteen.” Jiro may have died because of the extreme heat at the zoo, but it sounds like lived a lot longer than most of his species.