The newest pandas in the US have arrived in Atlanta. What we know about Ping Ping and Fu Shuang

By Eduardo Cuevas, Steven Jiang, Issy Ronald, CNN

(CNN) — Two giant pandas landed in Atlanta, tasked with pairing up to help ensure their species’ survival on Earth.

A lot weighs on the bears — a 6-year-old male named Ping Ping and a 5-year-old female named Fu Shuang — who arrived at Zoo Atlanta on Sunday. Both are part of Beijing’s long tradition of “panda diplomacy,” as the US and China face off over trade and an AI race that has some experts sounding existential alarm bells.

During their time at Atlanta’s zoo, the pair is meant to breed to boost panda populations, which are considered vulnerable by conservationists.

Questions remain over whether Fu Shuang will be impressed by what Chinese officials describe as Ping Ping’s exceptional tree-climbing, or whether he‘ll like the tuft of fur on the top of her head. It’s also unclear whether the bears will help ease tensions between the two global superpowers.

Here’s what we know about the pandas.

Crate-trained, traveling only with bamboo, water, treats

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang began their 8,000-mile journey in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the largest panda breeding facility in China. To prepare for their big move, the bears quarantined for a month, research base officials said. They also trained for the long flight, as they had to get used to their crates and loud noises.

Early Sunday morning local time in Sichuan province, they embarked on the 16-hour journey, arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport via a Boeing 777 dubbed the “FedEx Panda Express.”

The pandas traveled in custom-built crates and were the plane’s sole cargo, “accompanied only by fresh bamboo, water and an assortment of their favorite treats,” FedEx said in a statement.

They were then transported on FedEx trucks emblazoned with images of pandas with a police escort through metro Atlanta to their final destination at the zoo.

When can we see them?

Inside Zoo Atlanta, located in Grant Park, a banner displayed said, “The future home of Ping Ping and Fu Shuang.” Nearby, Ollie’s Market and Deli had a chalkboard sign welcoming the pandas in Chinese and English.

But visitors will have to wait to officially meet the pair. The pandas will undergo routine quarantine inside a biosecure area of Zoo Atlanta’s new giant panda complex for about a month.

Atlanta’s zoo is now just one of three US facilities that currently house giant pandas. Two pandas arrived in San Diego in June 2024, the first time China had loaned new pandas to the US in more than two decades. A second pair were sent to Washington’s National Zoo later that year.

Atlanta, the sprawling southern metropolis, is used to serving as a temporary home for the rare black-and-white bears.

In 2024, Zoo Atlanta returned four pandas who had lived at the zoo back to China, marking the end of a 25-year agreement between the zoo and China. Zoo Atlanta in April announced the updated agreement that brought Ping Ping and Fu Shuang to the city.

On Sunday, Atlanta residents Katy and Zach Justice told CNN they had seen the previous panda family before at the zoo. Now, the couple is excited to introduce their young child to the new pandas.

“I think it’ll be really cool for her to be able to look back and see pictures of her with the pandas,” Zach said. “As a family, we’re excited anytime we get to show our baby new experiences.”

‘Panda diplomacy’

Ping Ping, meaning “peace,” and Fu Shuang, meaning “double blessings,” follow a long line of pandas used as a fluffy diplomatic tool of China’s for more than half a century.

The number of pandas in the US can be indicative of the country’s current relationship with China. While now six bears live in US zoos nationwide, the number is not near the all-time high of 15 pandas about a decade ago.

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang landed just a day after Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington. Xi and President Donald Trump met to address rising tensions between the two superpowers. The two leaders extended a trade truce and agreed to establish an AI hotline between the two countries.

Speaking Thursday, Xi said the panda had been an “envoy of friendship” between China and the US, nodding to the half-century since pandas have lived in US zoos on loan from the Chinese government.

Host institutions typically pay an annual fee of $1 million for a pair of pandas, according to a 2022 Congressional Research Service analysis. The agreements also require China to direct funds toward conservation efforts.

The pandas will be on loan to the Atlanta zoo for 10 years, according to Xinhua, China’s state news agency.

The pandas and their offspring belong to China, where they’re expected to eventually return.

Officials hope to repopulate vulnerable species

Giant pandas once roamed vast swaths of China, northern Myanmar and Vietnam, but their habitats shrank due to human encroachment and climate change. Today, about 1,900 wild pandas live in just six mountain ranges above the Sichuan basin.

Their population is slowly growing, thanks in part to conservation efforts. Once designated as “endangered,” pandas were reclassified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2016.

The Chengdu panda breeding research base houses about 240 pandas, about a third of the global panda population in captivity.

Pandas are famously difficult to breed in captivity, so even one birth is cause for celebration. The bears, which are normally solitary creatures, can be picky when choosing mates, and females are only in heat for one to three days each year.

Zookeepers selected Ping Ping and Fu Shuang for their age, health, genetics and personality. Li Mingxi, the park’s deputy director, told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that they should “like each other, and hopefully be able to mate naturally.”

While the public eagerly waits to meet Atlanta’s new pandas, US zookeepers will work to make sure their transition in their new home goes well in hopes of eventually growing a family. The pair will have to get to know each other first.

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CNN’s Rafael Romo, David Culver, Mike Valerio, Chris Boyette, Xiaoqian Lin, Farida Elsebai, Rebekah Riess, Mitchell McCluskey and Shawn Nottingham contributed to this report.