Giant pandas are coming back to Washington.
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo announced Wednesday that two new giant pandas — Bao Li, 2, a male, and Qing Bao, 2, a female — will be arriving from China later this year.
Bao Li has family roots in the District.
He is the son of Bao Bao, a female giant panda who was born at the zoo in 2013, and the grandson of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the panda couple whose departure from the zoo last year broke hearts and signaled the end of an era.
But now comes a new era and a chance for fresh generations of zoo-goers to experience the thrill of pandamania and the hope that the new bears will someday produce cubs.
“I am filled with such joy right now,” said Brandie Smith, the zoo’s director. “It’s hard to express it.”
“The program is so important to giant pandas,” she said in a telephone interview last week. “We are working to save an endangered species.”
Smith said giant pandas have drawn millions of visitors to D.C., and millions more have watched the zoo’s pandas on the panda cam. “I’m excited for us. I’m excited for them.”
The announcement was a surprise, given the tense relationship between the United States and China, which owns and leases all giant pandas in U.S. zoos, and the short period of time since the departure of Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and their son, Xiao Qi Ji, late last year.
The new pandas are coming on a 10-year lease, ending in April 2034, during which the zoo will pay the China Wildlife and Conservation Association $1 million a year, the zoo said in its announcement.
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo announced Wednesday that two new giant pandas — Bao Li, 2, a male, and Qing Bao, 2, a female — will be arriving from China later this year.
Bao Li has family roots in the District.
He is the son of Bao Bao, a female giant panda who was born at the zoo in 2013, and the grandson of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the panda couple whose departure from the zoo last year broke hearts and signaled the end of an era.
But now comes a new era and a chance for fresh generations of zoo-goers to experience the thrill of pandamania and the hope that the new bears will someday produce cubs.
“I am filled with such joy right now,” said Brandie Smith, the zoo’s director. “It’s hard to express it.”
“The program is so important to giant pandas,” she said in a telephone interview last week. “We are working to save an endangered species.”
Smith said giant pandas have drawn millions of visitors to D.C., and millions more have watched the zoo’s pandas on the panda cam. “I’m excited for us. I’m excited for them.”
The announcement was a surprise, given the tense relationship between the United States and China, which owns and leases all giant pandas in U.S. zoos, and the short period of time since the departure of Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and their son, Xiao Qi Ji, late last year.
The new pandas are coming on a 10-year lease, ending in April 2034, during which the zoo will pay the China Wildlife and Conservation Association $1 million a year, the zoo said in its announcement.
