Tartan fit for a panda in Scotland

A model poses wearing a tartan designed in the honour of the two giant panda's recently acquired by Edinburgh Zoo
A handout picture released by the The Royal Zoological Society Of Scotland shows a model posing wearing a tartan designed in the honour of the two giant panda's recently acquired by Edinburgh Zoo in front of an enclosure housing one of the panda's Tian Tian.

Two pandas gifted to Edinburgh zoo by China received the ultimate Scottish honour on Tuesday when a special tartan designed for them was unveiled.

Yang Guang and Tian Tian have already attracted thousands of visitors to the zoo since they arrived on December 4 under a deal agreed after five years of high-level political and diplomatic negotiations.

The tartan features black, white and grey to reflect the colour of the pandas' and three red lines to represent China,

It was unveiled to tie in with Chinese New Year on Monday and Burns Night on Wednesday, an important date for Scots.

Hugh Roberts, chief executive of Edinburgh , said he was delighted with the panda tartan, designed by local firm Kinloch Anderson.

"This significant and highly exciting project symbolically demonstrates the coming together of Scotland and China's heritage and culture -- making it the perfect way to commemorate the gift of two giant that China bestowed upon Scotland.

"Its unveiling on the overlap of two separate culturally significant days for both and Scotland feels very appropriate and auspicious timing."

The pandas, an eight-year-old breeding pair, are expected to stay in Edinburgh for at least a decade.

(c) 2012 AFP

Citation: Tartan fit for a panda in Scotland (2012, January 24) retrieved 19 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2012-01-tartan-panda-scotland.html
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