U.S.-Born Pandas Struggle to Live in China Because They Only Know English and Like American Food

Panda sisters Meilun and Meihuan, both three years old, are having trouble understanding Chinese, specifically the Sichuan dialect. 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.

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.

h/t: The Hindu