New giant pandas from China arrive in Atlanta zoo

Two giant pandas from China have arrived in the U.S. as part of an agreement between the Chinese and American governments, the Atlanta zoo confirmed on Sunday.

The zoo said giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Sunday morning “via a dedicated ‘FedEx Panda Express’ Boeing 777 aircraft.”

“This is a thrilling day for Zoo Atlanta and a historic moment for the City of Atlanta, the state of Georgia and beyond,” said Raymond B. King, the zoo’s president and CEO, in a statement on social media. “We are elated to welcome Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and could not be more excited about sharing that joy with our members, guests, city and community in the coming weeks.”

Zoo visitors will have to wait a while to see Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, officials said. They will be quarantined for about a month in a biosecure area of the wildlife park’s new giant panda complex. Park officials haven’t confirmed a specific opening date.

While in Washington for a three-day summit with President Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that the pandas would be loaned to Zoo Atlanta and that they would arrive in the coming days. They were one of the few concrete outcomes to come out of the state visit.

Zoo Atlanta has been part of a giant panda agreement with China for more than 25 years. The zoo said farewell to its last pandas in 2024, leaving the zoo without pandas. The new agreement was announced back in April but without any dates.

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are the two adult pandas who will be on loan to Zoo Atlanta for 10 years as part of the agreement. Both pandas were born in 2020 and were kept at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Ping Ping, the male, has dark black circles around his eyes, while Fu Shuang, the female, has a forehead that protrudes a bit, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

China has long used the pandas as part of its diplomacy globally, deploying the bears in loan programs as expressions of goodwill and letting loan agreements lapse when tensions arise.

Xi had said the loan program was an example of “friendship between the Chinese and Americans.”

Currently, two other zoos in the United States have pandas. The National Zoo and the San Diego Zoo both received pandas from China in 2024.