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Ibis Mei Mei from China Lays First Egg in Japan
Mei Mei, a crested ibis from China, laid her first egg at a preservation center on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture, Kyodo News reported Monday.
Mei Mei, presented to Japan by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji during his visit last year, has been mated with Yu Yu at the Sado Crested Ibis Conservation Center in the Sea of Japan.
Mei Mei was born on April 10, 1999 at a crested ibis preservation center in China's Shaanxi Province, while Yu Yu was born in Japan in May that year to Yang Yang and You You, which were a gift from Chinese President Jiang Zemin to Japanese Emperor Akihito when Jiang visited Japan in 1998.
Although the scientific name for crested ibises is Nipponia Nippon, the birds are virtually extinct in the country. The only one ibis born in the wild in Japan, a female named Kin thought to be 33 years old, is now kept at the Sado center.
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