Yahoo News Giant Pandas Arrive Safely at San Diego Zoo Following Agreement with China: 'Acclimating to Their New Home'
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) signed a 'cooperative agreement' with the China Wildlife Conservation Association to send new pandas to San Diego in February
Y Galindo/Zooilogical Society of San Diego via Getty
A giant panda cub at the San Diego ZooTwo new pandas have arrived in San Diego!
The San Diego Zoo announced in a press release on Friday, June 28, that giant pandas Yun Chuan and Xin Bao had arrived safely and were “acclimating to their new home.”
Yun Chuan and Xin Bao "will spend the next several weeks acclimating to their new home in a private habitat at the San Diego Zoo and won’t be viewable to the public during this time,” the statement read. “They are being monitored closely by expert wildlife health and care teams who will determine when the pair are ready to meet the public.”
The zoo added, “We look forward to sharing more information — including a date and how to see the beloved pandas — as soon as it becomes available.”
According to the release, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao are the first pandas to enter the U.S. in 21 years.
Y Galindo/Zooilogical Society of San Diego via Getty
A giant panda cub at the San Diego Zoo
Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Two giant pandas playing at Chongqing Zoo in Chongqing, China, on June 22, 2024Related: We're on Baby Panda Watch! Zoo Atlanta Cub Could Arrive Any Moment Now
In a press release released on Wednesday, June 26, the zoo shared that China had said farewell to the animals during a ceremony with "a delegation of representatives from the United States, including leaders of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance" and conservation leaders.
The news comes after the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) — the nonprofit that operates the San Diego Zoo — announced in February that they had signed a "cooperative agreement" with the China Wildlife Conservation Association to send new pandas to San Diego.
Described as an "important step forward in having giant pandas return to the San Diego Zoo,” the move came after the SDZWA sent the last of its giant pandas, Bai Yun and Xiao Liw, to China in 2019.
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Officials from the zoo told the Associated Press at the time that a male and female bear could arrive as early as before the end of the summer.
According to the San Diego Zoo Yun Chuan “is an almost five-year-old male” whose mother Zhen Zhen was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007. She was the fourth panda to be born at the zoo.
Meanwhile, Xin Bao “is a nearly four-year-old female whose name means ‘precious treasure of prosperity and abundance.’ ”
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