Giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang arrive in Atlanta from China
Two new giant pandas have arrived at Zoo Atlanta, just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the pair would be coming to the United States.
Ping Ping, a male, and Fu Shuang, a female, arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Sunday morning aboard a FedEx "Panda Express" Boeing 777, according to Zoo Atlanta.
Their arrival comes three days after Xi announced during a visit to the White House that the pandas would soon be heading to Atlanta.
"The giant panda has been an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and Americans," Xi said Thursday. "Here, I have a piece of good news. In a few days, two pandas, Ping-Ping and Fu Shang, will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta, and meet with the American people."
The pandas traveled from China as part of a new giant panda conservation agreement between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association.
"This is a thrilling day for Zoo Atlanta and a historic moment for the City of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and beyond," Raymond B. King, president and CEO of Zoo Atlanta, said in a statement Sunday.
When can visitors see the new pandas?
Ping Ping and Fu Shuang will spend around a month in quarantine in a biosecure area of Zoo Atlanta's new giant panda complex and will not be visible to visitors during that time.
The zoo said it will announce at a later date when the pandas will make their public debut.
Both pandas were born in 2020 at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China.
Their arrival marks the return of giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta nearly two years after the zoo's previous pandas returned to China.
Zoo Atlanta's original giant panda agreement with China began in 1999. During the 25-year partnership, pandas Lun Lun and Yang Yang had seven cubs.
Lun Lun and Yang Yang and their two youngest offspring, Ya Lun and Xi Lun, returned to China in October 2024 after the agreement ended.
Zoo Atlanta is now one of three zoos in the U.S. with giant pandas and the only one in the Southeast.
