Pandas return to Washington

Bao Li, whose mother was born at the National Zoo more than 10 years ago, and female Qing Bao flew from China to Alaska Monday and departed for their new home in the nation’s capitol Tuesday morning (the zoo was closed to the public for the day in anticipation of their arrival).

Reporting on the exact age of the pandas has varied, but they were both 2 years old in May when the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute first announced it would welcome the pair of pandas later this year.

The new pandas will be quarantined for at least 30 days after they arrive at the National Zoo and will make their public debut weeks after that.

Bao Li, whose name means “treasure” and “energetic” in Mandarin, according to DC News Now, was born to mother Bao Bao, who was born in Washington D.C. in 2003, and his grandparents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, lived at the National Zoo from 2000 to 2023.

Qing Bao, the female panda, has a name that means “green” and “treasure” in Mandarin.

The pair are on loan to the National Zoo for 10 years and will live in an enclosure that recently underwent a $1.7 million renovation, the first since 2006, that included adding a new climbing structure and large pool.

Surprising Fact

Bao Li is technically the nephew of Xiao Qi Ji, the giant panda who was born at the National Zoo in 2020 before returning to China last year. He was the fourth surviving cub of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, who are also parents to Bao Li’s mother Bao Bao.

Big Number

$1 million. That’s the annual fee the Smithsoian will pay to support conservation efforts back in China in exchange for keeping Bao Li and Qing Bao.

Key Background

Known as “panda diplomacy,” the practice of China loaning giant pandas to other countries has been ongoing for decades. The use of pandas for China’s “major political and diplomatic needs” in the United States dates back to President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972. After the visit, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai gifted two pandas to the American people. They arrived at the National Zoo in April of 1972, where 20,000 visitors saw them on opening day. The pair had five cubs over the next 20 years, though none survived into adulthood.

The pandas died in 1992 and 1999, and Washington D.C. had no pandas until a second pair arrived in December of 2020, at which time the zoo paid $10 million for a 10-year loan. There were several extensions signed and that pair didn’t leave the United States until 2023. They had four cubs, three of which were returned to China by 2019 and a fourth, named Xiao Qi Ji (“Little Miracle”) by a public vote, left in 2023. From 2020 until the pandas departed last year, the zoo’s Giant Panda Cam webpage has been visited more than 100 million times. When the last group of National Zoo animals were returned to China, only two panda cubs remained in the United States at Zoo Atlanta. They departed Georgia on Oct. 12. There are currently giant pandas on loan from China in Qatar, Moscow and Berlin.