Beijing ( CNN ) -- She ate her favorite food all day long and rarely exercised . She had a few brief failed relationships but mostly stayed single and never gave birth . Defying conventional wisdom on a healthy lifestyle , she somehow found the secret to longevity . When she died of kidney failure on May 7 in southern China , some local media called Ming Ming , 34 , the world 's oldest giant panda , generating global headlines . Wild pandas live 15 years on average , while those in captivity can live much longer thanks to improved nutrition and medical care , according to WWF , the nature conservation organization whose logo famously features a giant panda . CNN anchor 's surprising views on pandas . At least two pandas had lived longer than Ming Ming , state media has reported . Tao Tao died in 2008 at the age of 36 and Chang Chang passed away in 2002 at the age of 35 . `` The longevity of those pandas does n't have too much to do with our conservation effort , '' said Professor Fan Zhiyong , head of the species program at WWF 's Beijing office . `` In captivity pandas do n't have to worry about food sources , infectious diseases and competition from other species -- all of which remain challenges to their survival in the wild . '' While both Tao Tao and Chang Chang spent most of their lives in a zoo in eastern China , Ming Ming 's life journey spanned half the globe . Her longevity had surpassed most people 's expectations . She was rescued in 1979 in the mountains of Sichuan province , a rare sanctuary for one of the world 's most endangered species . Some 300 pandas live in captivity in China , mostly in breeding programs aimed at boosting the low population caused by disappearing natural habitats and low fertility rate . Fewer than a dozen zoos outside China have pandas . `` Ming Ming had always been weak ever since she was rescued , '' said Huang Zhi , one of her caretakers at China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong , also in Sichuan , where she grew up . `` She was quite timid and not very close to people , '' he added . Despite the personality , Ming Ming played the panda ambassador when the Chinese government dispatched her to the London Zoo in 1991 . Fighting instead of mating with a male panda from Berlin , Ming Ming failed her most important duty and returned home three years later . She moved one last time in 1998 to a safari park in the southern Guangdong province , where old age eventually caused multiple health problems . Huang , Ming Ming 's longtime caretaker , last visited her in April . `` Her eyesight was deteriorating -- and she moved very slowly and ate very little , '' he recalled . `` I felt she was very old . ''
Ming Ming dies on December 7 in southern China . She dies of heart failure after living in captivity since 1979 . At least two pandas had lived longer than Ming Ming .