Edinburgh panda Tian Tian is world’s favourite

Edinburgh Zoo’s giant panda Tian Tian has beaten off global competition to scoop the top prize in a search to find the world’s favourite panda outside China.

Tian Tian: Won gold in global panda popularity competition. Picture: Neil Hanna

The female panda attracted a fifth of the total vote from fans around the world to take gold in the second Giant Panda Zoo Awards.

Alison Maclean of Edinburgh Zoo collected the award on behalf of Tian Tian at a ceremony at Zoo Atlanta, in the US.

She said: “We think it’s absolutely amazing that everybody feels the same way about our female panda as we do; it’s just great, and thank you to everyone for voting for us.”

The zoo’s male panda, Yang Guang, which means Sunshine, took silver in the same category last year. This is Tian Tian’s second award. She appeared in the 2011 BBC’s Women of the Year list alongside A-listers such as Pippa Middleton.