U.S-Born Pandas Upset With Food In China

Three years ago two cute baby pandas were born at a zoo in Atlanta, much to the delight of everyone there. Now the pandas are back in China, though, where researchers say the cubs are having a difficult transition because they miss American food.

While the pandas were born in the U.S., the babies and their parents belong to China. According to People's Daily, the cubs were recently returned to the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding as per the terms of the original agreement between the zoo and China. Since arriving in Chengdu, however, the panda twins have been very grumpy about having to eat steamed Chinese buns instead of the American crackers they were accustomed to.

Researchers in Chengdu say the pandas like American crackers so much that they don't want to eat anything else. They've been rejecting apples and bamboo, so the researchers have been trying to mix the pandas' food with the crackers the way parents try to sneak vegetables into toddlers' macaroni and cheese.

On top of the cracker problem, the pandas don't really know any Chinese. They're used to commands like "come here" in English, but don't understand commands or calls from the people caring for them in China.

The pandas have not yet been in China for two weeks, and the staff at the breeding center say they should adapt over time and get used to hearing Chinese instead of English and eating buns instead of crackers.