Ueno Zoo's panda Ling Ling dies

Ling Ling, the resident male giant panda of Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, died from chronic heart failure on March 30. Aged 22, which equates to between 80 and 90 in human years, he had recently been withdrawn from public view to undergo intensive care due to circulatory problems. With the death of Ling Ling, Ueno Zoo will be without a panda for the first time since its first two giant pandas arrived in 1972. Ling Ling was also Japan's sole surviving giant panda. According to the zoo, he was the fifth oldest of the world's 104 captive male pandas. Ling Ling came to Japan in 1992 under an exchange agreement with China's Beijing Zoo, who received a female panda born in Ueno Zoo. The pandas remaining in Japan are all owned by China.