Yun Chuan and Xin Bao have arrived safely in San Diego from China, becoming the first two giant pandas to enter the United States in 21 years, San Diego Zoo officials announced Friday.
The duo will spend the next several weeks acclimating to their new home in a private habitat at the San Diego Zoo. They will not be viewable to the public during this time.
They are being monitored closely by wildlife health and care teams who will determine when the pair are ready to meet the public, according to zoo officials. It is unclear when that will happen.
The return of giant pandas has been long-awaited, as the zoo’s partnership with Chinese wildlife officials has advanced panda conservation since they first came to the city in 1987 under an exhibition loan.
China owns and leases all giant pandas in U.S. zoos and has lent the animals for decades as “panda diplomacy” to strengthen national ties.
The San Diego Zoo has been preparing for the pandas’ arrival since a conservation agreement was signed in February, remodeling the original panda habitat and another adjacent enclosure.
This photo released by the San Diego Zoo shows giant panda Xin Bao, one of the pandas who arrived at the San Diego Zoo under a conservation loan, in the Sichuan province of China. (Ken Bohn / San Diego Zoo via AP)
Leaders of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria went to China this week to participate in a farewell ceremony for the pandas at the China Conservation & Research Center for Giant Pandas in the Sichuan province.
Zoo officials hope the panda pair will eventually produce a cub or two. The male, Yun Chuan, is the son of Zhen Zhen, a female panda born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007. Xin Bao, the female, was born at the Wolong Shenshuping Panda Base.
These are the zoo’s first pandas since 2019. Its program has previously resulted in six cubs and helped zoo scientists develop techniques to keep young pandas alive, such as panda milk formula.
Until this week, the only pandas remaining in the U.S. were at Zoo Atlanta in Georgia, after the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., sent its three pandas back to China in November.
Chinese wildlife officials have also made agreements to loan pandas to the National Zoo and the San Francisco Zoo.
San Diego will pay $1 million a year for the pandas. The money is earmarked to support Chinese panda conservation efforts.