Two giant pandas arrived at the Washington Zoo from China this morning. Bao Li, the male panda, and Qing Bao, the female, were flown from Chengdu to Dulles Airport in Virginia on a FedEx Boeing 777F cargo plane nicknamed the “Panda Express.”
The three-year-old bears were then loaded onto trucks and transported to their new home at the zoo in the US capital. “Bao Li and Qing Bao began exploring their new spaces, where keepers had placed an abundance of bamboo for the bears to eat,” the zoo said in a statement. They will now be quarantined for at least 30 days and will not be on public display until January 24, 2025. “We are thrilled to welcome Bao Li and Qing Pao to Washington,” said Brandy Smith, director of the National Zoo and Institute. Conservation biology. “Today we happily celebrate a new chapter in our 52-year giant panda breeding and conservation program.” China adopted so-called “panda diplomacy” in 1972, when the first animals were sent to Washington as gifts, following the historic visit by US President Richard Nixon to the communist country.
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