Tigers, lions, bears, giraffes, pandas, fennec foxes … These are some of the wild animals that live in Everland, the Land of Fantasy.¹ Everland takes care of endangered animals by making sure that they are raised in an environment closest to their natural habitats and organizes a variety of ecological programs to help visitors learn about the importance of nature and all living things. To dive into the world of the mysterious world of animals, Samsung Global Newsroom has created its Online Zoo series by capturing the animals with various Samsung devices.

We’re thinking of an animal that has shiny eyes, dainty, triangular ears, dark, chubby paws, and a long, bushy tail. Did you figure it out? It’s a lesser panda! (Also known as a red panda.) Just a glance of this cute little creature is sure to put a smile on your face. Unfortunately, unless something is done, lesser pandas may not be around for much longer. Over the last two decades, the world’s lesser panda population has more than halved. Now, only some 10,000 are left. This has led the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, to officially classify lesser pandas as “endangered.”

Each year, on the third Saturday of September, the world celebrates International Lesser Panda Day. This year, that day falls on September 18. In celebration of International Lesser Panda Day, Samsung Newsroom organized a very special event with Da-seul Jeong, also known as Aeso, the illustrator who created the beloved emoji character Ompangi.

The collaboration offered Aeso an opportunity to observe lesser pandas and celebrate the creatures by creating a unique character. A total of eleven lesser panda-inspired drawings were transformed into stickers that can be utilized in our daily lives. Follow along as we recount Aeso’s first encounter with the lesser pandas, and how they inspired her to create a one-of-a-kind character.

Capturing Lesser Pandas’ Charm With the Galaxy Z Flip3

Standing between 50 and 60 centimeters tall, with a roughly 50-cm long tail and weighing between three to six kilograms, Lessy, one of the lesser pandas who calls Korea’s Everland zoo and theme park home, is a nocturnal animal who can typically be found being active or resting in the shade or on the branches of tall trees during the day. This male panda, who has lived alone for the last six years, is slightly sensitive and timid. Lemon, on the other hand, a female lesser panda who joined Lessy at Everland last year, is energetic and a little bit aggressive. The couple doesn’t always get along, and their rather tense form of chemistry fascinates visitors.

An expert on dealing with cute things, Aeso instantly recognized the lesser pandas’ endless charm. On International Lesser Panda Day, the Galaxy Z Flip3 served as her eyes and ears. The smartphone enabled her to not only take selfies on the Cover Display without unfolding the phone, but also allowed her to snap pictures with the screen folded at an optimal angle. This allowed her to capture the lesser pandas’ diverse and expressive movements.

“What struck me when I first saw them was their round shape,” said Aeso. “Their eyes, their ears, their paws… everything was round. This inspired me to create a character that was as round as possible.”

“I also noticed that they had white fur around their noses and ears,” she added. “I thought I should definitely use that. The Galaxy Z Flip3 helped me a lot when I was creating the characters by vividly capturing the lesser pandas’ unique characteristics.”

Giving Lesser Pandas Their Spotlight

When it came to creating a new emoji character, Aeso decided to start by observing the animals’ emotions. “I normally use the Galaxy Note10 to quickly take notes or draw images of emotions and situations that emerge in everyday life,” she explained. “Afterward, I consider how people can empathize with them. The countless emoji that have been created so far resonate with emotions that I have felt in daily life.”

After observing the lesser pandas’ expressions, movements and emotions up close, Aeso started drawing with the S Pen and the Galaxy Z Fold3, which is optimized for sketching. Her app of choice was Clip Studio Paint, a creative app that enhances the usability of tablets. She used the Galaxy Z Fold3 in various ways during the drawing process, placing the device wide open on the floor to make a rough sketch from a broad perspective.

The smartphone’s multitasking features, which allow users to open three apps at once in split-screen mode and five more apps as pop-ups, helped Aeso immerse herself in her work. “When I work, I usually move back and forth between windows containing reference images or materials,” she explained. “This time, it was incredibly convenient because I could see them all at once without needing to bounce back and forth.”

“My hands often hurt after long hours of drawing with pens,” she continued. “But when I used the S Pen that comes with the Galaxy Z Fold3, with its extraordinary grip and feel, even long hours of work didn’t feel so hard.”

When excited, lesser pandas tend to ‘dance’ and wag their tails. Sometimes, when they are observing something closely, they look rather serious. When they see bamboo, they appear to be full of joy. You can see some of these emotions in the drawings below.

Aeso hopes that the stickers will help inspire the world to take action. “I truly hope they can get through this crisis and stay around for a long, long time,” she added.

▲ Samsung Newsroom and Aeso teamed up to create 11 decorative stickers to support the endangered lesser (red) panda.

▲ Along with this image, an additional ten stickers can be downloaded in high resolution below.

¹ Korea’s Everland zoo and theme park

Tigers, lions, bears, giraffes, pandas, fennec foxes… These are some of the wild animals that live in Everland, the Land of Fantasy. Everland takes care of endangered animals by making sure that they are raised in an environment closest to their natural habitats and organizes a variety of ecological programs to help visitors learn about the importance of nature and all living things. To dive into the world of the mysterious world of animals, Samsung Global Newsroom has created its Online Zoo series by capturing the animals with various Samsung devices.

Today, June 21, is World Giraffe Day as designated by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF). This day was assigned to make collaborative efforts to prevent the extinction of giraffes, whose number is rapidly reducing, and to take some time to learn a bit more about these gentle giants. Considering the most characteristic feature of giraffes—their long necks—the GCF chose June 21 as World Giraffe Day as it is the summer solstice,¹ the longest day of the year.

Using some of Samsung Electronics’ most innovative devices, Samsung Global Newsroom followed the everyday lives of the twelve giraffes that live in Everland, from the story of the world record-breaking head of the giraffe family to the surprisingly belligerent nature of giraffes, and finally their charming yet subtle characteristics. Read on and take a look at the videos below to learn more about these gentle yet surprising creatures, and see if you can work out how the Galaxy S21 Ultra and The Sero TV made their way into the footage as you do.

The Most Famous Giraffe in South Korea

Giraffe matriarch Jang-Soon is living the life of a superstar who cannot escape the spotlight. Since making it into the Guinness Book of World Records for a special reason and becoming the most prominent giraffe in Everland, Jang-Soon’s conjugal harmony, silver wedding and other events have been reported on the news. The next giraffe to likely continue Jang-Soon’s legacy in the giraffe family has also come to the forefront. Who is this next contender for the leader of the superstar Everland giraffe family? Let’s find out by following a day in the life of Jang-Soon and her family.

Slow Yet Stealthy: the Hidden Abilities of Giraffes

“If you encounter a giraffe in the wild, don’t look back and run for your lives!” noted Jun-Yeong Park, Everland zookeeper who has been working with Lost Valley’s giraffe family for over 10 years. In fact, the giraffe is one of the top 10 strongest fighters among African land animals. ‘Cheong-Ryong’, the heaviest and strongest member of the giraffe family of twelve, in fact weighs 1.5 tons. If a giraffe harnesses its heavy body and starts kicking with full strength to defend itself, it is enough to break the skull or spine of a lion into pieces.

What’s more, their big eyes, each of which is the size of a tennis ball, grants them excellent eyesight and a visibility range of 4 to 7km, meaning that giraffes are very good at escaping from their enemies. Let’s learn more about some of the surprising physical characteristics of giraffes that are disguised behind their beatific eyes and relaxed gait.

The Longer the Neck, the Higher the Blood Pressure

One of a giraffe’s most characteristic features is its long neck, which is hard to see in one go even if you tilt your head as far as you can. Male giraffes engage in fights using their necks, known as ‘necking’, in order to compete for females, meaning that it is more advantageous to have a longer neck as it increases a fighter’s overall centrifugal force.

That said, as giraffes have to pump blood all the way to the top of their heads which sit 3m above their hearts, giraffes inevitably have high blood pressure, with their normal blood pressure being 270/180 mmHg. The blood pressure of the giraffe is two times that of the human, which is 120/80 mmHg, but nevertheless, giraffes manage to eat, drink, sleep and play with ease. So what is their secret?

Giraffes that group with others live longer than less sociable individuals, according to the team of researchers led by Professor Barbara König at University of Zürich. World Giraffe Day was designated to promote collaborative efforts to the end of preventing the extinction of giraffes. After enjoying this dynamic tale of Everland’s giraffe family captured in the Galaxy S21 Ultra and The Sero, let’s be sure to pay more attention to protecting these gentle giants.

¹ One of the twenty-four solar terms, the summer solstice has the longest day and the shortest night of the year.