EIGHTEEN panda cubs were formally presented with their names at a Hollywood-style reception in southern China yesterday as they moved boisterously into the nursery that will now be their home, writes Imre Karacs.

The 12 females and six males, all born in captivity between July and September last year at the Research and Conservation Centre in Wolong nature reserve, Sichuan province, were weaned from their mothers to help them adapt to natural temperature and humidity and group living.

As the cameras rolled for the live television show watched by millions, each panda was given the name chosen by the public in an internet vote. Most seemed to take stardom in their stride, munching nonchalantly on bamboo shoots as the party got under way.

The cub formerly known as Baby Number One was christened Sixue, meaning “miss the snow”, while twins became Meixi and Meixin, both meaning “beautiful”. Baby Number Nine was named Fuwa, after the mascot of next year’s Beijing Olympics. The naughtiest of the bunch will now be called Taotao, meaning “mischievous”.

The Chinese state, of course, laid down some strict ground rules. “The names should be civilised, standard, creative and able to highlight the panda’s character as a national treasure,” the official website had decreed.

Voters were provided with potted CVs to help them capture the animals’ character. Baby Number Five, for instance, was described approvingly as “far from handsome at birth, but he’s quite sturdy now and likes to bully his twin sister”.

Thirty-four pandas were born in captivity in China’s panda boom last year but four died. The panda is one of the world’s most endangered species and is found only in China.

An estimated 1,600 wild pandas live in reserves in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces.

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