Female panda Meng Meng at Zoo Berlin celebrates 5th birthday

BERLIN - Female panda Meng Meng at the Zoo Berlin celebrated her 5th birthday with a three-story birthday cake on Tuesday.

The birthday present was a delicious ice cream cake with beetroot and sweet potato, decorated with apple hearts. The candles were carved from bamboo and carrots by zookeepers and trainees.

Meng Meng arrived in Berlin in last summer together with a male panda Jiao Qing from the panda breeding and research base in Chengdu, southwest China. The panda pair will stay in Zoo Berlin, the oldest in Germany, for 15 years.

"With the 5th birthday, Meng Meng has matured into a young lady, so that we hope for black and white offspring next spring for the first time. Germany's first panda baby would be a huge sensation. As to whether, when and how the two will approach each other for the first time, we will decide together with our colleagues from China next year," said Zoo and Tierpark Director Andreas Knieriem.

In the Giant Panda Global Awards held in February, Meng Meng was voted by global panda fans as the "Favorite Panda Outside of China".