Photo taken on April 18 shows giant panda Yunchuan at the Ya'an Bifengxia Base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By Staff Reporters

On June 27, two giant pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, arrived in California, U.S., on a chartered flight from the Ya'an Bifengxia Base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in China's southwest Sichuan province, beginning a new round of Sino-U.S. cooperation on giant panda protection.

Female Xin Bao, born on July 23, 2020, is gentle and well-behaved, while Yun Chuan, male, born on July 28, 2019, is smart and lively.

To ensure the health and safety of the two pandas during the flight, fresh bamboo, bamboo shoots, fruits and vegetables, special dumplings, and drinking water were prepared. Meanwhile, five experienced breeders and veterinary experts from China and the U.S. accompanied the animals on the flight.

After Yun Chuan and Xin Bao settle in at the San Diego Zoo, the Chinese experts will remain with them for about three months during the quarantine period, helping them to quickly adapt to their new living environment. The public will be able to learn about their daily lives and adaptations in a variety of ways.

The San Diego Zoo, which has an average annual visitor number of six million, is the first institution in the U.S. to cooperate with China in giant panda research. Since the cooperation between the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda and the San Diego Zoo began in 1994, the two sides have achieved fruitful results in the fields of giant panda ecology, behavior, genetics and nutrition, as well as field monitoring, artificial breeding, disease prevention and control, companion species research and public education. Both sides jointly solved a series of technical problems.

"San Diegans can't wait to see these amazing animals!" wrote Todd Gloria, mayor of San Diego, on social media platform X. Gloria had attended the farewell ceremony in Ya'an, where the pandas had been residing.