Edinburgh’s pandas to appear in the Beano

EDINBURGH Zoo’s pandas are set for a new lease of life when they are immortalised in the pages of The Beano this week.

They have been made cover stars along with Dennis the Menace and Gnasher and feature in their weekly strip.

The long-running stars of the comic, which has been running since 1938, pay a visit to the attraction and use the pandas to play tricks on sworn nemesis Walter the Softy.

Pandas Yang Guang and Tian Tian follow in the footsteps of other famous features to feature in The Beano, including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, US president Barack Obama, the Queen, Andy Murray and Simon Cowell.

Mike Stirling, editor-in-chief of The Beano, saod: “Our giant panda pals were happy to pose for The Beano’s artists and actually turned out to be giant pranksters, sharing a few wild, menacing tricks of their own.”

Beano readers will also get the chance to win a competition for a VIP visit to meet Yang Guang and Tian Tian face-to-face, while free copies of the special panda edition will be given away to young visitors to the zoo.

Sharon Simpson, head of marketing at Edinburgh Zoo, said: “We were delighted to be approached by The Beano to create a special panda edition.

“Being immortalised in this iconic way is testament to the popularity and celebrity of our giant panda pair.

“Since their arrival they have fast become central to Scottish culture and the latest honour bestowed upon them is a real privilege.”

Last month it emerged that Hollywood superstar Nicole Kidman had paid a visit to the zoo with her two daughters to see the pandas.

The next edition of The Beano is out on Wednesday.