China announced the signing of a cooperation agreement with the Californian zoo in February. The animals arrived there at the end of June. So far they have been able to get used to their new surroundings – a spacious habitat with trees and rocks – without visitors. The female bear Xin Bao has a large, round face and fluffy ears, while the male panda can be recognized by his long, pointed nose, the zoo explained. His mother Zhen Zhen was born in San Diego in 2007 as the fourth panda baby and returned to China in 2010.
Last autumn, several pandas had to leave the zoo in the US capital Washington, which had housed giant pandas for decades – the loan contract had expired. By the end of 2024, two new pandas – a male and a female – are expected to arrive in Washington on loan from China.
Pandas on loan
Pandas are considered symbols of friendship between China and the countries to which they are sent by the People’s Republic. For many years, there has been a “panda diplomacy” that Beijing also uses strategically to convey a positive image of China and to show its gratitude for political favors. However, these are always only loans that – like young animals conceived abroad at the age of around two to four – must be returned to China. The USA was given two bears as a gift in 1972 after the historic visit of then US President Richard Nixon to Beijing.
The black and white bears, which are popular with many zoo visitors, are mostly native to China’s southwestern province of Sichuan. Giant pandas are not only considered extremely cute, they are also extremely rare. According to the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), there are just over 1,800 giant pandas living in the wild in China.
