Two giant pandas born in the United States have returned to China understanding only English words and addicted to American snack food, reported The People’s Daily Online.
Meilan and Meihuan have been taken to their homeland China but are now struggling with culture shock, even reportedly preferring American crackers to Chinese varieties.
The three-year-old pandas were taken to China under the terms of a loan deal. Their mother Lun Lun was on loan to the US zoo, meaning any offspring must be returned to China.
The pair are so obsessed with American variety crackers that everything they eat including their primary food bamboo must be smothered in it, according to their keeper Luo Yunhong. They even have to have it in their water she told The People's Daily Online.
They are also unable to understand anything in Chinese other than their names, but readily respond to English words and phrases such as “come here”.
The pair were flown to China’s Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding form Atlanta Zoo in the US state of Georgia earlier this month. Their keepers hope they will eventually transition to life in China.
