China's Oldest Giant Panda Seriously Ill

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 ◆ China's Oldest Giant Panda Seriously Ill

China's oldest giant panda, Changchang, was seriously ill and may be on his last legs, according to sources at the Jinan zoo in Shandong Province, east China.

At the age of 35, Changchang has outlived the 30 years of average life expectancy for giant pandas and is equivalent to about 85 in a human lifespan, the sources said.

Stout Changchang began to refuse food on May 8, whereas he used to have a big appetite, eating three corn buns, three kilograms of milk and 15 kilograms of bamboo leaves on an average day, keepers said.

Experts from the General Hospital of the Jinan Military Zone gave him a thorough health examination and concluded that he was suffering from pneumonia, liver diseases and multi-organ decay.

The experts have worked out a treatment program for Changchang,who had improved recently, as he began to take food and light exercise, but he was still in low spirit and the experts fear the worst.

The giant panda, an animal found only in China, is one of the most endangered animals in the world. It is estimated that there are only 1,000 or so giant pandas living the wild.