Two giant pandas from China have arrived in Southern California, where they will be cared for as part of an ongoing conservation partnership, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said Friday.
The pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, will spend the next several weeks acclimating to their new home in a private habitat at the San Diego Zoo and will not be viewable by the public, the alliance said in a brief statement.
They are the first new pandas to arrive in the U.S. in 21 years, according to the alliance. In May, the Washington National Zoo announced that it would also be receiving two new pandas from China by the end of this year.
"They are being monitored closely by expert wildlife health and care teams who will determine when the pair are ready to meet the public," the alliance said.
A farewell ceremony was held earlier this week before the pandas departed from China.
Yun Chuan, a mild-mannered male who is nearly 5 years old, has connections to California, the wildlife alliance said previously. His mother, Zhen Zhen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007 to parents Bai Yun and Gao Gao.
Xin Bao is a nearly 4-year-old female described as "a gentle and witty introvert with a sweet round face and big ears."
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has a nearly 30-year partnership with leading conservation institutions in China focused on protecting and recovering giant pandas and the bamboo forests they depend on.
The China Wildlife and Conservation Association has lent pandas to the U.S. since 1972 under an agreement dubbed "panda diplomacy."
In 1987, San Diego received two pandas for a 100-day visit, but eventually signed a 12-year agreement and received two pandas, named Bai Yun and Shi Shi, in 1996. The agreement kept getting extended and a total of six pandas were born at the zoo. All of them returned to China by 2019.
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