(Reuters) – A pair of giant pandas arrived in Washington from China on Tuesday to move into a new home at a U.S. zoo that has been without black and white bears, one of its most popular attractions, for almost a month. year.
China sent the pandas as part of a deal announced earlier this year by U.S. and Chinese government officials aimed at warming relations between the two superpowers. The zoo returned three other giant pandas – two adults and their cubs – on loan from China.
The new male and female pandas, named Bao Li and Qing Bao, arrived at Dulles International Airport on a FedEx (NYSE:) plane, transported in large white crates with breathing holes in the sides and trucked to the zoo.
The zoo said Bao Li and Qing Bao will remain in the panda house at the National Zoo for 30 days as part of their quarantine.
Pandas have been featured at the zoo since 1972, when the Chinese government sent a pair as a gift to the American people after US President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China when the two countries established diplomatic relations.
Bao Li is a descendant of pandas that once lived in Washington. His mother was born at the Smithsonian’s National Institute of Zoo and Conservation Biology in 2013, and his grandparents, Tian and Mei Xiang, lived there from 2000 to 2023.
