Zoo Negara's Panda Keeper

Pandas are China’s most popular diplomats. In Malaysia, we have Fu Wa and Feng Yi and who have since been renamed as Xing Xing (prosperity) and Liang Liang (pretty) respectively. 

 

The giant pandas (Scientific name: Ailuropoda melanoleuca) were loaned to the Malaysian government in 2014 for 10 years, in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China.

 

Pandas are notoriously hard to breed in captivity – but Zoo Negara produced a record number of baby pandas that lived beyond infancy. The first cub for the panda pair was Nuan Nuan, born in 2015. Then came the second Yi Yi in 2018 and the third Sheng Yi in 2021. (All three have since returned to China). 

 

But one Malaysian has become popular with Chinese netizens for his dedicated care of the pandas. He is Akmal Hadi Samsuddin (right), a panda keeper at Zoo Negara. In fact, they call him “nai pa” on Chinese social media, or “‘nanny daddy”. 

 

Watch more to find out how Akmal and his team did it, and why that placed Malaysia on the radar of the Chinese public:

Liverpool beat Tottenham 4-2 yesterday. The Merseysiders found form once more after their own recent fatal slump. Four goals and then they lifted their foot off the accelerator. Anyway, a precious win for their penultimate Premier League game.

 

A delicious ball by Cody Gakpo found Mohamed Salah at the back post and the Egyptian made no mistake as he headed it into the net in the sixteenth minute. The Reds went 2-0 up in the 45th after Salah's shot was saved by the Spurs goalkeeper and Andy Robertson converted from the rebound. Five minutes after the break, Gakpo served the third when heading low at the far post following Harvey Elliott's curling left-foot cross. Nine minutes later, Elliott got the deserved reward of a goal of his own when he curled an unstoppable left-foot shot into the top corner.