Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou (R) visits pandas with children at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan Province, Jan. 24, 2009. [Xinhua]

A total of 18,899 people flocked to Taipei Zoo to see the pandas the next day. The zoo limits panda visitors to 22,000 each day.

The pandas, each weighing around 107 kilograms, arrived at the zoo on December 23, 2008.

The pair came from a nature reserve in the mainland's southwest Sichuan Province. They were presented as gifts from the mainland and have become the fascination of thousands of people on the island.

The city government estimates the pandas will attract about 6 million visitors to the zoo annually.

The mainland announced in May 2005 that it would give two giant pandas to Taiwan as a gesture of goodwill, but their departure was delayed for more than three years. Improved cross-Strait ties made their journey to Taiwan possible.

Giant pandas are among the world's most endangered animals. There are about 1,590 pandas living wild in China, mostly in Sichuan and the northwestern provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu.

Up until 2007, 239 giant pandas have been bred in captivity in China's mainland.

(Shanghai Daily February 2, 2009)