Giant pandas returning to the National Zoo in DC

Two new giant pandas will be arriving at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, DC, this year, the zoo announced Wednesday.

Two new giant pandas will be arriving at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, DC, this year, the zoo announced Wednesday. The bears, named Qing Bao and Bao Li, a pair of 2-year-old black-and-white animals, will arrive by the end of 2024 through a partnership with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, the zoo said. In a video announcement featuring first lady Jill Biden planning a “black tie,” vegetarian dinner for the iconic bears, the zoo celebrated the news. “I’m so proud to say that this long-standing program and this collaboration with our Chinese colleagues is one of the reasons why giant pandas are no longer listed as endangered, but rather only vulnerable on the global list of species at risk of extinction,” Brandie Smith, director of the zoo’s Conservation Biology Institute, told reporters Wednesday. The institute is seeking $25 million in public and corporate donations to support the pandas over the next 10 years. Chinese ambassador Xie Feng touted the journey of the “newest envoys of friendship” as a symbol of the deepening of “friendly ties” between the US and China.