For the first time in 21 years, two new giant pandas are calling the U.S. home, and now you can finally say hello to them in person.
After arriving more than a month ago from China, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao made their public debut at the San Diego Zoo on Thursday, with a grand ceremony marking the first time the public could check out the fluffy duo and their new home, Panda Ridge. And as the pair sunbathed and snacked on bamboo inside, crowds gathered around them to dance, ogle and be a part of the "panda-mania," as California Gov. Gavin Newsom called it.
Newsom, addressing the visitors alongside Chinese ambassador Xie Feng, said the moment was not only a celebration of the animals but one signifying a "much deeper, much richer" celebration.
"It is about understanding," Newsom said. "It's about celebrating our common humanity. It is about celebrating the things that bind us together."
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Tensions between the U.S. and China had temporarily paused the program known as "panda diplomacy" in which China loans its native animals to zoos around the world. This began in the 1940s as a show of goodwill from China toward its international allies, and it had been alive in the U.S. since the 1970s until relations between the two nations soured. But the presence of Yun Chuan and Xin Bao appears to show a mending of the diplomatic relationship, which Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to work toward in a meeting with President Biden last year.
Newsom — in proclaiming Aug. 8, 2024, as California Panda Day — said he'd traveled to China last year to "advance priority issues, including climate action and economic development." He called the giant pandas an example of how strong worldly partnerships can protect wildlife and their habitats and applauded the San Diego Zoo for being the country's first organization to establish a cooperative panda conservation program with China.
"This conservation collaboration is part of California and China's long history of working together towards shared goals," Newsom said in the proclamation. "We hope that the newly arrived panda 'envoys of friendship' will lead to further exchanges and cooperation between California and China."
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As for the pandas themselves, the zoo says 5-year-old male Yun Chuan is "gentle and lovable," "kind, clever and sensitive to others." Although he's "serious about his bamboo," the zoo says he always lets other pandas go first. He can be distinguished by his long, slightly pointed nose tip. And he has strong ties to his new home: His mother, Zhen Zhen, was the fourth cub born there, and his maternal grandmother whom he was named after, Bai Yun, and his grandfather resided there in the early 2000s.
Meanwhile, the zoo describes 4-year-old female Xin Bao as "very active, alert, witty," "an excellent climber," adding that she is "naturally playful and will even roughhouse a bit with some of the other pandas." Her name means "a new treasure of prosperity and abundance," and the zoo said she'll "no doubt" be a reminder of blessings and success. She can be distinguished by her big, round face and ears.
Yun Chuan, Xin Bao and four giant pandas in Atlanta's zoo are now the only ones residing in the U.S. But by the end of the year, the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., is expected to welcome two more fuzzy bears.
