There will soon be two new places in the U.S. to visit China’s iconic and endearing national animal. The giant panda, with its unmistakeable black and white markings and adorable fuzzy features, is a keystone species and symbol of global conservations efforts – and it’s one of the ‘bucket list’ animals many people want to experience in person. 

 

A pair of pandas from China make their eagerly awaited public debut at the San Diego Zoo on August 8, 2024. Xin Bao and Yun Chuan are the first giant pandas to enter the United States in over two decades. 

 

'Our newest residents will bring joy to our visitors and symbolize the enduring spirit of international conservation efforts. Together with our partners, we continue to make significant strides in ensuring a hopeful future for this iconic species,” said the President and CEO of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. 

 

The two pandas are making their home at the San Diego Zoo in a newly re-imagined Panda Ridge. The space is four times larger than the zoo’s previous panda habitat and is inspired by giant pandas’ native habitats in the Sichuan, Gansu and Shanxi provinces of China. The zoo’s new panda habitat emulates mountains, canyons, and cliffs and features new shade trees for climbing, a diverse array of plants, and rolling hillsides that allow Yun Chuan and Xin Bao to navigate and explore vertically.

 

 

The new pair marks a return of pandas to the San Diego Zoo, where officials note it’s a historic moment for the species. As keystone wildlife, giant pandas are a bell weather for the delicate environment that supports not just these iconic animals, but the many other, less iconic species integral to the wellbeing of the ecosystem.

 

Giant pandas are now found in the wild only in protected forests and hills of central China. Their diet consists 98% of bamboo – and they must eat vast quantities to extract enough nutrition to maintain their size. Human activity has been jeopardizing their environment and putting pressure on these pandas. It’s estimated there are about 2000 left in the wild.

 

Conservation efforts in China are aimed at safeguarding and shoring up the animals’ remaining habitat, protecting wild pandas and the future population. Panda centres in the country are part of those efforts to make a difference for these iconic species.

 

As a long-standing national cultural and natural treasure and symbol of harmony in China, sending pandas to other countries has become a gesture of international friendship. The new breeding pair of pandas in San Diego are among hundreds gifted or temporarily loaned to zoos around the world.

 

In addition, panda residencies in zoos in other countries usually include partnerships in research and conservation, including breeding programs, that engage the public in efforts to protect the panda and its habitat in the wild, ensure the species’ genetic diversity and support conservation as a whole.

 

For example, the new pandas in residence in the San Diego Zoo are the latest achievement of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, a non-profit organization that supports conservation science through global partnerships. Through wildlife care, science expertise and collaboration, more than 44 endangered species have been reintroduced to native habitats.

 

Another new breeding pair of giant pandas arrives at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. by the end of 2024, marking the beloved species’ return to that city. The zoo has a half-century history of panda partnerships with China.

 

The only other place in the U.S or Canada to see giant pandas right now is in Zoo Atlanta, which at time of publication of this article has four, including the first twin panda cubs born in America this century. (The double happiness of the twins is even more significant, considering that if a mother panda in the wild has two cubs, usually only one survives.)

 

Zoo programs like these pandas in residence are at the leading edge of wildlife conservation science. They also give many of us the opportunity to get up close to a panda if we never make that bucket list trip to China.