Zoo Atlanta will welcome two new giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, from China as part of an international conservation effortThe Georgia zoo hosted giant pandas Lun Lun and Yang Yang from 1999 to 2024, resulting in seven offspringGiant pandas are listed as “vulnerable,” with an estimated 500 to 1,000 mature individuals remaining in the wild
More giant pandas are coming to the U.S.
Zoo Atlanta has announced that two giant pandas, a male named Ping Ping and a female named Fu Shuang, are coming to the park soon. The pair was born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, China.
The pandas will be provided to the zoo through a new international cooperative research agreement for giant panda conservation between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association.
Two giant pandas at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, China.
Credit: Ludovic MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty
Zoo Atlanta previously had a giant panda agreement with China from 1999 to 2024, during which time the zoo cared for Lun Lun and Yang Yang. The agreement resulted in seven offspring born to the panda pair between 2006 and 2016.
Lun Lun and Yang Yang’s first five offspring returned to China after spending several years at the zoo. In October 2024, the panda parents and their two youngest offspring, Ya Lun and Xi Lun, left Atlanta for the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, leaving Zoo Atlanta without pandas for the first time in decades.
A giant panda at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, China.
Credit: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty
“Zoo Atlanta is delighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species and to partner with the China Wildlife Conservation Association on the continued conservation and research efforts that are the most important outcomes of this cooperation,” Raymond B. King, Zoo Atlanta’s president, said in a release.
“We can’t wait to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and to welcome our members, guests, city, and community back to the wonder and joy of giant pandas.”
The zoo says it will make future announcements with more information about Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and their arrival.
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In June 2024, two giant pandas, named Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, were sent to the San Diego Zoo. They were the first pandas to enter the U.S. in 21 years. Two other pandas, Bao Li and Qing Bao, arrived at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. in October 2024.
Giant pandas are currently listed as “vulnerable” in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, which estimates that there are 500 to 1,000 mature giant pandas in the wild. In 2021, Chinese officials announced that giant pandas are no longer considered endangered within the country.
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