Two Giant Pandas Arrive in Atlanta Under New U.S.-China Agreement

Two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, arrived in Atlanta from China and will live at Zoo Atlanta under a 10-year conservation and research agreement. The pandas, born in 2020, will spend about a month in quarantine before meeting the public. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the loan during his Washington visit and described the animals as symbols of friendship, making their arrival a notable goodwill gesture amid continuing U.S.-China tensions and few major outcomes from the visit. The transfer also restores pandas to Zoo Atlanta after its previous residents returned to China in 2024.
The U.S. and China have conducted joint panda research since 1999; Xinhua said the collaboration has produced more than 50 papers and the successful breeding of seven cubs.
Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are the third pair of pandas China has sent to the United States in the past two years, following arrivals at the San Diego and Smithsonian’s National zoos in 2024.
The pandas flew from Chengdu to Atlanta aboard a specially designated Boeing 777 cargo plane called the “FedEx Panda Express.”
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