2019 was a good year for our beloved bamboo-eating, black-and-white bears. Good news came one after another. Here, we have a collection of the best panda moments of 2019. Let's wish the adorable animals an even better 2020! 

Newborns

As many as 11 giant panda cubs celebrated their own Spring Festival in February. And this was only a start. More cubs have been born in 2019. June 23 is a particularly happy day as two pairs of panda twins were born on that day. 

Cubs were born in Chengdu, Shanghai, Xi'an, Belgium and Berlin. The twins born in Berlin, Meng Xiang and Meng Yuan, became superstars and won the hearts of the whole world. 

In another piece of good news, a captive giant panda gave birth to a pair of twins in September, becoming the second giant panda to successfully deliver cubs after mating in the wild. 

New Records

On June 6, the world's heaviest giant panda twin cubs were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The twins, a male and a female, weighed 211.6 grams and 209 grams, respectively. Two months later on August 20, the world's lightest panda cub was born at the same Research Base with only 42.8 grams. 

The world's oldest giant panda turned 37 years old in 2019. This is about 120 in human years. 

In mid April, a first known white panda was spotted in the wild. There was a rare grey panda cub born in June. And in November, the world's only captive brown giant panda was adopted by Pandas International. 

In 2019, the number of captive pandas reached 600 globally. By November, a total of 60 pandas were born and 57 survived this year in China.

Panda Diplomacy

As of 2019, 20 countries have giant pandas. Among them, Denmark became the ninth European country to host pandas. Mao Er and Xing Er have started a new life at the Copenhagen Zoo in Denmark since April 2019. 

The super cute guests have been welcomed in Vienna, Moscow, Tokyo, and Indonesia. 

As some countries welcomed panda guests, others bid farewell. The San Diego Zoo in the U.S. returned their beloved Baiyun and her son Xiaoliwu to China in April. In November, fans from Washington DC, U.S. said goodbye to Bei Bei, an American-born panda. 

Some other pandas spent their special days in foreign countries, such as the first birthday in Malaysia, 3rd birthday in Spain, 9th birthday in Berlin, and anniversary of arrival in Finland. 

China's effort

2019 marks the 150 anniversary of the scientific discovery of giant pandas. In this year, China has published the first completed panda sourcebook; and has created a panda facial recognition app. A giant panda national park is to be established soon in northwest China, which will cover an area of 27,000 square kilometers. 

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at nature@cgtn.com.)