Panda Pair Takes a Knickerbocker Holiday : Fuzzy Fund-Raisers Make Debut at Bronx Zoo

A show expected to be one of the city’s hottest tickets made its debut today with two lazy stars who don’t even like each other. And all they do is sit around in public eating and looking adorable.

Ling Ling and Yong Yong, two giant pandas from China, went on display at their special “panda-minium” at the Bronx Zoo after Mayor Edward I. Koch and Beijing Deputy Mayor Feng Mingwei sounded a gong to mark the opening.

Roly-poly Yong Yong was the first to face the rapt audience and made a shy bow, crouching behind a bush.

“Yong Yong! Have I got an apple for you!” bellowed Koch as he leaned into the pen.

Feng announced to applause that the exhibition, a loan from the Beijing Zoo as part of the sister city relationship between New York and the Chinese capital, will be extended from three months to six.

Only one panda can be displayed at a time because 6-year-old Yong Yong, a female, and the 1 1/2-year-old male don’t get along.

Proceeds from the exhibition are to be used for the Chinese government’s rescue mission for pandas, an endangered species.

Yong Yong, whose name means “Forever and Ever,” was found as an abandoned infant in the wild. Ling Ling, whose name means “Ringing Bell,” was born in captivity as a result of artificial insemination.

Zoo officials expect more than 1,000 people an hour to view the pandas during the exhibition.