Ping Ping and Fu Shuang arrive at Zoo Atlanta after flight from China

Zoo Atlanta says giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang arrived in Atlanta on September 27, bringing pandas back to the zoo under a new conservation agreement with a planned 10-year stay. They are completing a routine quarantine behind the scenes, so visitors cannot see them yet. The zoo says it will announce when members and guests can view the pair.

The arrival followed a chartered flight from Chengdu in southwestern China. Xinhua reported that the pair departed Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 2:55 a.m. local time on Sunday, September 27. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding held a farewell ceremony before they left; photographs accompanying Xinhua’s report date that ceremony and the pandas’ transfer to September 26.

Who are the pandas?

Ping Ping is male and Fu Shuang is female. Both were born at the Chengdu Research Base, according to Zoo Atlanta. The zoo lists Ping Ping’s birth date as March 17, 2020, and Fu Shuang’s as October 18, 2020. They are therefore arriving as adults, rather than as cubs born into the zoo’s earlier panda program.

Zoo Atlanta says the pair are at the zoo through an International Cooperative Research Agreement on Giant Panda Conservation with the China Wildlife Conservation Association. The agreement was announced on April 23. Xinhua describes the planned stay as 10 years, while an Associated Press report published in April said the Chinese association characterized the partnership as a decade-long conservation effort.

A return after two years

The new pair restore a program that ended at Zoo Atlanta in 2024. Its original agreement with China began in 1999 and concluded 25 years later. Zoo Atlanta says the original pair, Lun Lun and Yang Yang, had seven offspring between 2006 and 2016, including two sets of twins. That history makes Ping Ping and Fu Shuang a new chapter in a long-running relationship between the zoo and Chinese panda specialists.

Lun Lun, Yang Yang and their two youngest offspring, Ya Lun and Xi Lun, departed Atlanta for China on October 12, 2024. Zoo Atlanta says all four now live at the Chengdu Research Base, as do the original pair’s first five offspring. The zoo had been without giant pandas since the four left, making the arrival of Ping Ping and Fu Shuang a practical change for its animal care team as well as a future attraction for visitors.

In announcing the new agreement in April, Zoo Atlanta president and chief executive Raymond B. King said the zoo was honored to be trusted as a steward of the species again. He said the conservation and research work was the most important outcome of the partnership and looked forward to welcoming the pandas and the community back to the program. Zoo Atlanta says its previous conservation support benefited habitat restoration, nature reserve management and ranger support.

The summit connection

Chinese President Xi Jinping publicly signalled the pandas’ imminent trip during his September 24 remarks at the White House, saying Ping Ping and Fu Shuang would reach Zoo Atlanta ‘in a few days’. He called the giant panda an ‘envoy of friendship’ between Chinese and American people. His announcement connected an agreement made in April to the timing of this week’s journey, amid the wider Trump–Xi meetings in Washington. The summit is covered in NewsJaws’ account of the leaders’ Washington meeting.

Zoo Atlanta’s FAQ now confirms the arrival, but gives no date for the end of quarantine or the first public viewing. It says further announcements will cover when members and guests can see the pandas and details of their new habitat. For now, their presence in Atlanta and their availability to visitors are separate milestones: the first has happened, while the zoo has yet to schedule the second.