2024-08-09 05:17:14
Premiere of “Xinbao” and “Yunchuan”: Thanks to two loans from China, newly arrived giant pandas in the United States appear at a Southern California zoo for the first time in 21 years. After completing the acclimation period, the San Diego Zoo celebrated the opening of its “Panda Ridge” enclosure. The nearly five-year-old male giant panda Yunchuan and the nearly four-year-old female giant panda Xinbao were unveiled at their new home.
In February this year, China announced a cooperation agreement with the California Zoo. The animals arrived there in late June. So far, they have been able to adapt to their new environment – a spacious habitat with trees and rocks – without visitors. Xiong Xinbao has a large, round face and furry ears, while male pandas can be identified by their long, pointed nose, the zoo said. Its mother Zhenzhen is the fourth panda cub, born in San Diego in 2007 and returned to China in 2010.
Last fall, several giant pandas had to leave the zoo in Washington, D.C., where they had been kept for decades, after a loan agreement expired. Two new giant pandas on loan from China – one male and one female – are expected to arrive in Washington by the end of 2024.
The giant panda is regarded as a symbol of friendship between China and the sending country of the People’s Republic of China. “Panda diplomacy” has been around for years, and Beijing has used it strategically to convey a positive image of China and express gratitude for political favors. However, these are always just loans that must be brought back to China – just like the young animals aged around two to four years old that were conceived abroad. In 1972, after then-U.S. President Richard Nixon made a historic visit to Beijing, the United States received two bears as gifts.
Black and white bears are popular with many zoo visitors and are mostly native to Sichuan Province in southwestern China. Giant pandas are not only extremely cute, but also extremely rare. According to statistics from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there are only more than 1,800 wild giant pandas in China.
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