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Reference ID: #8bc8d90f-512f-11f1-b425-b440dba457b1

The public is getting its first look at the two pandas that will be heading from China to Zoo Atlanta.

NBC’s Janis Mackey Frayer was able to visit female Fu Shuang and male Ping Ping before they make the nearly 8,000-mile flight. The giant pandas are both 6 years old and are headed to the United States as part of a new decade-long conservation agreement between China and the U.S.

Ping Ping’s keepers say he tends to follow them around, which is atypical behavior for a panda, but may be because of the food they have for him. Fu Shuang — which translates to “double happiness” — is playful, but nervous, and enjoys placing her chin on her paw. She also likes apples and has a penchant for finding them.

“Because we will hide pieces of apples, for example under the tree … she can find them everywhere,” panda keeper Wang Shun told Mackey Frayer, noting her “clever” behavior.

The pandas are part of an international cooperative research agreement on giant panda conservation between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, a renewal of panda diplomacy between America and China that began in 1972.

“Zoo Atlanta is delighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species and to partner with the China Wildlife Conservation Association on the continued conservation and research efforts that are the most important outcomes of this cooperation,” Zoo Atlanta President and CEO Raymond B. King said in a statement in April.

“We can’t wait to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and to welcome our Members, guests, city, and community back to the wonder and joy of giant pandas.”

Pandas are already at zoos in Washington, D.C., and San Diego. Zoo Atlanta maintained a panda agreement with China from 1999 until 2024, when Lun Lun and Yang Yang went back to their home country, along with their two youngest cubs.

Animal behaviorist James Ayala marvels at how pandas mature.

“You see cubs and they seem so cuddly and clumsy and cute. And then they grow up into these big, majestic bears,” he told Mackey Frayer.

Fu Shuang and Ping Ping will be transported further south into a mountainous region where they will be prepped to make the trip to the U.S. It is unknown when they will leave.