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Two giant pandas from China arrived in the U.S. state of Georgia on Sunday to begin a 10-year stay at Zoo Atlanta under a bilateral conservation agreement, bringing giant pandas back to the institution for the first time since its previous animals left in 2024.
Ping Ping and Fu Shuang touched down at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport aboard a dedicated aircraft before being transferred directly to a biosecure section of Zoo Atlanta's newly built giant panda complex, the zoo announced.
The animals will remain out of public view for about a month while they go through a routine quarantine period.
Zoo Atlanta President and CEO Raymond B. King called their arrival a "thrilling day for Zoo Atlanta and a historic moment for the City of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and beyond."
Both pandas were born in 2020 and had been living at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwestern China before setting off for the United States.
Ping Ping is male, while Fu Shuang is female.
Their arrival makes Zoo Atlanta one of three zoological institutions in the United States currently housing giant pandas and the only facility in the American Southeast to host the species.
The transfer forms part of an International Cooperative Research Agreement on Giant Panda Conservation signed with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, under which the animals will remain in Atlanta for 10 years.
The journey was highlighted during Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent three-day visit to Washington, where he met U.S. President Donald Trump.
Xi announced during the summit that the pandas would arrive in Atlanta within days, although the agreement itself had first been announced in April without a confirmed arrival date.
The panda arrangement emerged as one of the concrete outcomes of the visit, which included public expressions of goodwill between the two leaders while leaving broader disagreements between Washington and Beijing unresolved.
China has long used overseas giant panda loan programs as part of its international engagement, often referred to as "panda diplomacy."
Xi described the program as an example of "friendship between the Chinese and Americans."
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