Follow-Up: Giant Pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang Make Their Public Debut at Zoo Atlanta as the New Panda Grove Opens
Atlanta — Two six-year-old giant pandas, Ping Ping (male) and Fu Shuang (female), made their public debut on November 6 at Zoo Atlanta in Georgia, as the renovated Arthur M. Blank Panda Grove opened to visitors, ending the zoo's roughly two years without giant pandas.
Both pandas were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China and arrived in Atlanta on September 27 aboard a FedEx Boeing 777 freighter dubbed the Panda Express. They will live at the zoo for ten years under a new cooperative research agreement between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association. The Grove was renovated at a cost of about $6 million, with expanded indoor spaces, new climbing structures and a pool.
Zoo Atlanta had been without pandas since its previous four returned to China in 2024, ending a 25-year partnership. With Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, the zoo becomes one of only three U.S. zoos currently housing giant pandas — alongside the San Diego Zoo and the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington — and the only one in the Southeast.
China's ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, spoke at a news conference on opening day, saying the pandas' arrival 'marks the renewal of a decade-long bond between China and Zoo Atlanta' and that their names carry hopes for peace, happiness and mutually beneficial cooperation. The zoo held a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and crowds of visitors lined up for a first look at the pair. (Source: Associated Press)
Related:
Atlanta: Follow-Up: Zoo Atlanta to Launch PandaCam for Ping Ping and Fu Shuang Ahead of Nov. 6 Debut
Source: Associated Press
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：大熊猫（资料图）。Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0，Medium69 摄。 / Photo: A giant panda (file photo). Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, by Medium69.
