(The Hindu) – Two U.S.-born panda twins who recently moved to China are struggling to adjust to the food and language since they only understand English, according to state media.
Panda sisters Meilun and Meihuan, both three years old, are having trouble understanding Chinese, specifically the Sichuan dialect.
Multicultural #panda family: US-born pandas Meilun & Meihuan back in China, but can only understand English https://t.co/8guWoS3GEn pic.twitter.com/abDWqDeBdd
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) November 17, 2016
They only react when they hear their names and English phrases like “Come here”. They also prefer American crackers over Chinese bread — like any normal person suffering from culture shock.
Lun Lun, mother to Meilun and Meihuan, was born in China, and gave birth to her cubs in Atlanta.
Luo Yunhong, a breeder at the Chengdu Research Base of China Panda Breeding, says that they love American crackers so much that it literally needs to be mixed into everything they eat.
To help them adjust, Luo has been slowly replacing their American crackers with Chinese bread. Officials say that the pandas are slowly starting to adjust to their new lives.
The sisters where brought to China from the Atlanta Zoo on November 5th. They were born in the U.S. to Lun Lun, a 19-year-old panda from China. As part of a loan agreement with China, all panda offspring are sent to China after they hit a certain age.
Sichuan has over 360 captive pandas, accounting for 86.3% of all captive pandas in the country.
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