Feature: panda specimens go on show in Berlin

Berliners love panda, live and dead.

Shortly before the specimen of the panda Baobao and Yanyan were about to make their first public debut in Berlin's Museum for Natural History on Monday evening, the central hall of the museum was already packed with spectators.

As the museum staff estimated, a total of 1,000 people came on that night, eager to see Baobao and Yanyan, who both died in Berlin Zoo, to make their public appearance again. Berlin's mayor Michael Mueller opened the exhibition.

The male panda Baobao who was given to West Germany by China in 1980 died of old age at the age of 34 at the Berlin Zoo, as the female panda Yanyan, who was loaned by China to Germany died of acute constipation in 2007, leaving no off-springs in Berlin.

While panda Baobao climbing on a branch stares straight ahead, as if he's quietly enjoying the distant landscape, Yanyan sitting on the ground raised her right arm slightly, as if she is going to reach the bamboo in front.

Detlev Matzke, taxidermist of Museum for Natural History, who made the panda specimen, said that he put a lot of efforts into them.

As Detlev Matzke said, the whole taxidermy process took him a total of six months and the most difficult part is the eyes, which took him 10 days.

In order to understand the habits of the giant panda, Matzke had to watch a lot of photos and movies so that he could determine the final "pose" of two pandas' specimens.

John Christian Vogel, Director General of the Berlin Museum of Natural History, told Xinhua, due to Berliners' affection for panda, the museum had the pandas dissected as to give them "eternal life".

Marie, a real panda fan from Berlin, wore a black and white panda overall on the opening night. She said: "Panda is my favorite animal, as they are always so cute. I donate money every month for panda to the World Wildlife Fund."

"The panda is far more than an endangered species. It is a symbol of how we deal with nature on our planet," said Volker Holmes, head of species conservation at WWF Germany, adding that WWF wouldn't choose panda as its trademark without reason.

As one can see in the exhibition hall, panda's roles as ambassador for the environment, as current research topic, as superstar or as diplomat and advertising medium were summed up by the museum in 30 exciting and surprising stories for the visitors.

Meanwhile, a total of six pandas, including the two original skeletons of Bao Bao and Yan Yan and valuable collection of materials from Berlin and Paris can be seen in the exhibition.

The exhibition "Panda", set up by Berlin's Museum for Natural History in cooperation with the WWF Deutschland, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and Berlin zoo, will last till 31 July 2015.

The museum expects approximately 200,000 to 300,000 visitors during the exhibition. Enditem