ATLANTA — The newest giant pandas in the United States have arrived in Atlanta, bringing a fresh wave of excitement to American zoo-goers and conservationists.
The pair, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, traveled from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, according to CNN. Zookeepers selected the two bears for their age, health, genetics and personality. Li Mingxi, the park’s deputy director, told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that the pandas should “like each other, and hopefully be able to mate naturally.”
Giant pandas once roamed vast swaths of China, northern Myanmar and Vietnam, but their habitats shrank due to human encroachment and climate change. Today, about 1,900 wild pandas live in just six mountain ranges above the Sichuan basin. Their population is slowly growing, thanks in part to conservation efforts. Once designated as “endangered,” pandas were reclassified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2016.
The Chengdu breeding base houses about 240 pandas, roughly a third of the global captive panda population. Pandas are famously difficult to breed in captivity — females are only in heat for one to three days each year — so every successful pairing is cause for celebration among conservationists.
While the public eagerly waits to meet Atlanta’s new pandas, U.S. zookeepers will work to make sure their transition into their new home goes well, with hopes of eventually growing a family. The pair will need to get to know each other first, CNN reported.
The arrival marks another chapter in panda diplomacy, the long tradition of China lending its beloved bears as symbols of international friendship and cooperation on conservation.