Bear necessities: Expo cubs settling in fast

Ten pandas loaned to Shanghai Zoo already developing a taste for the city

The Aoyun (Olympic) and the other nine panda cubs for the Shanghai Expo arrived at Shanghai Zoo last week and soon developed a taste for local bamboo leaves (maozhu), quelling fears of a difficult period of adjustment.

"It's usually a huge challenge to get the pandas to accept any other leaves apart from jianzhu," said zoo spokeswoman Chen Lihua, referring to a kind of bamboo native to Sichuan province. "But it was easier than expected, maybe because they're still young."