Sometimes the news is just adorable. Two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, touched down at Atlanta's airport Sunday morning after a flight from Chengdu aboard a FedEx Boeing 777 that people are calling the Panda Express. Both were born in 2020, and they will live at Zoo Atlanta for ten years under a conservation agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association.
The zoo's chief called it a thrilling day and a historic moment for Georgia. The timing was a surprise, since Chinese President Xi Jinping only announced their arrival a few days earlier during his White House visit. Before anyone can wave at them, the pair must spend about a month in quarantine at the new panda complex, and the zoo has not set a public debut date. Zoo Atlanta now becomes one of three American zoos with giant pandas. Families will have to wait a little longer.
