With a regal wave to her adoring fans, Basi, the world’s second oldest panda , tucks into her very own birthday cake, as she celebrated turning 35.
In panda years that makes her around 140-years-old, which proves what a diet of bamboo shoots and acrobatic exercise can do for you.
For waving is just one of the tricks she keeps up her furry sleeve. She also rides a bicycle, shoots basketball hoops and lifts weights!
Basi became famous around the world when she was chosen as the prototype for Pan Pan, the mascot of the Beijing Asian Games in 1990.

Feature China / Barcroft MediaShe waves to the audience at her party

Other fans know her from her visit to the San Diego Zoo in the US in 1987 where her astonishing acrobatic performances attracted around 2.5 million visitors during her six-month stay there.
Her birthday party began at the Fuzhou Giant Panda Research Centre in Fujian yesterday after she finished her routine exercises and health check.

Feature China / Barcroft MediaBasi chows down

She tucked into a cake made of her favourite foods of crushed up bamboo leaves, mashed apples and radishes.
More than 300 people from home and abroad came to wish her a happy birthday and to bring all kinds of presents including toys and paintings.
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Giant pandas are one of the world’s most endangered species.

Feature China / Barcroft MediaBasi with flowers

According to official data, by the end of 2013 there were only 1,864 giant pandas living in the wild, mostly in southwest China, and 375 are in captivity.
The average lifespan of wild pandas is 15 years, while those in captivity usually live longer due to better nutrition and living conditions.

Feature China / Barcroft MediaShe decides to eat them

Basi has been in captivity since 1984 after she was rescued from the wild, starving and close to death after the bamboo crop, pandas staple food, had failed.

Feature China / Barcroft MediaWhat a crowd pleaser!

“Basi is the second-oldest panda in the world,” said Zhang Guiquan, a senior panda expert from the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Wenchuan county.
“Jia Jia, a 38-year-old female panda at Ocean Park Hong Kong, is the oldest. A captive panda normally lives for 30 years.”