One of the Peach Bowl contestants will have to grin and bear this prognosticator’s prediction.
As students, fans and experts alike gather to predict who might win the upcoming Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Zoo Atlanta asked its chief expert, Yang Yang, the male giant panda, which team will return victorious.
On Dec. 14, Zoo Atlanta let 26-year-old Yang Yang decide whether the Ole Miss Rebels or the Penn State Nittany Lions would go home as champions on Dec. 30.
The two boxes that Yang Yang used to predict the peach bowl.
Zoo Atlanta
For a prediction, Yang Yang entered his outdoor habitat and found two identically sized boxes, one painted with the Ole Miss logo and the other with the Penn State logo. The giant panda immediately headed for Penn State’s box and tore through it as he retrieved the hay from inside – making his official pick, the Penn State Nittany Lions. Yang Yang’s 2023 prediction marks the eighth year the panda forecaster has attempted to pick the winner of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
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Yang Yang the giant panda.
Zoo Atlanta
The Atlanta-based prognosticator is one of four giant pandas at Zoo Atlanta — the only zoo in the U.S. that currently holds the bears. Three giant pandas living at the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Biology recently returned to China.
On November 8, 26-year-old Tian Tian, 25-year-old Mei Xiang and their 3-year-old son Xiao Qi Ji began their return to Chengdu, China. The departure of these three beloved bears marks the first time the National Zoo has been without pandas since 2000.
A giant panda at a theme park in South Korea has given birth to the country’s first pair of panda twins
Zoo Atlanta’s giant panda loan agreement with China expires at the end of 2024, but the site has yet to share details about the pandas’ future travels. There have been no discussions between Zoo Atlanta and its partners in China about the status of the giant panda program after the loan ends in 2024.
Yang Yang Zoo in Atlanta has given more than $16 million to support giant panda conservation.
The National Zoo’s pandas are officially heading to China, leaving the DC Zoo without a panda for the first time since 2000.
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The Ole Miss Rebels or Penn State Nittany Lions face off in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 30, in Atlanta. The game will air on ESPN at 12:00 PM EST.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education