Tohui

Tohui was born on 21 July 1981 at Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City. She was the daughter of mother Ying Ying and father Pe Pe, a pair of giant pandas gifted to Mexico by the Chinese government on 10 September 1975 as an act of panda diplomacy. In 1980, the couple had their first offspring, Xen Li, who died eight days after birth after Ying Ying crushed him while she was sleeping. Following Tohui's birth, she was isolated from her mother and cameras were installed to further prevent the accident from reoccurring.

The name Tohui is from Tarahumara (the language of the Rarámuri) and means "(male) child". (Variants: tohui, toui, towi). When Tohui was born it was believed she was male, and the contrary was only learned after a contest for the name was held. The female equivalent is Tehuete. The name was proposed by Parménides Orpinel, a boy from Guachochi, Chihuahua, and was chosen from thousands of submissions by a panel that included Cantinflas. To celebrate her fifth birthday, the Banco de México minted a commemorative coin, where Tohui appeared in the arms of her mother, Ying Ying.

Her presence at Chapultepec boosted the zoo's tourism; the line to visit her reached the monument of the Niños Héroes. Following her birth, the zoo started to receive considerably more financial support, enough to start its first veterinary hospital. At the request of the then First Lady, Carmen Romano, a song called "El pequeño panda de Chapultepec" (lit. '"The little panda from Chapultepec"') was composed by Laura Gomez Llanos and performed by singer Yuri. The song went on to sell a million copies.

On 1 July 1990, Tohui gave birth to a daughter named Xin Xin, who was conceived naturally with a panda named Chia Chia from the London Zoo. As of July 2025, Xin Xin is the only giant panda living in Latin America, and she never reproduced.

Tohui died on 16 November 1993, at the age of 12, due to a series of infections and illnesses that had affected her since she gave birth to Xin Xin. She was buried in Chapultepec Zoo's garden.