A staggering 22 million people posted in their name suggestions for our new panda cub. And an equally amazing 60% of them chose the name Linping, Minister for Natural Resources and Envrionment Suvit Khunkitti has announced.

The name is in fact quite a clever Chinese-Thai combination. ‘Lin’ is part of the cub’s mother’s name, Lin-Hui, while ‘ping’ comes from our very own River Ping which flows through Chiang Mai city. Put together, ‘Linping’ also means ‘Forest of Ice’ in Chinese, totally appropriate to the natural habitat of this endangered species.

Linping’s parents are here ‘on rental’ from their homeland, and the rental contract specifies that any offspring should be returned to China within 2 years. However, negotiations are underway to extend the period, as Linping and her parents have become the box office hit of the zoo. In fact, they are 3 of only 180 pandas in zoos worldwide.

Mum Lin-Hui gave birth following artifical insemination after her mate’s total apathy towards mating. Even regular exposure to 15 minute videos of other panda couples mating failed to raise any enthusiasm in the prospective male parent. Who knows? Maybe the patter of tiny paws could prove to be the answer?

Editor’s note: one reason for the ‘endangered species’ status of pandas world wide is the low sex drive of the males, plus the unfortunate fact that the mothers are notoriously careless. Many a panda infant has perished when Mum suddenly rolled over in the wrong direction. But with Linping already proving to be such good business for the zoo and the city, it is expected that every precaution will be taken for her welfare.

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