Pandas from China en route to Washington, D.C. after National Zoo returned beloved animals last year

Two giant pandas were on the way from China to Washington on Monday less than a year after the National Zoo said goodbye to a pandas on loan from China. 

The pandas — Bao Li and Qing Bao — departed Chengdu and are scheduled to arrive in Anchorage just before 10 p.m. local time, according to plane tracker FlightAware. From there, the bears will head to Dulles, with a landing scheduled around 9:55 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

“Something *giant* is coming to Washington, D.C. via the @FedEx Panda Express,” the National Zoo said in a Monday post on social media. “The Zoo will be closed to the public tomorrow, Oct. 15. For the safety of the pandas and staff, we will not disclose any additional timing.”

The National Zoo first received pandas from China in 1972 after President Richard Nixon’s trip to China to open diplomatic and trade relations between the U.S. and China. China “has used pandas to pursue diplomatic objectives, a practice termed panda diplomacy,” according to the Congressional Research Service.

China in 2000 sent Mei Xiang and Tian Tian to the National Zoo as part of an agreement with the China Wildlife and Conservation Association. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian were supposed to stay in the U.S. for 10 years, but the agreement was extended several times. The pair of pandas in 2020 had a cub, Xiao Qi Ji. 

Xiao Qi Ji and his parents were returned to China in November of last year. After they left, Zoo Atlanta was the only zoo in the U.S. with giant pandas. Their pandas are set to return to China at some point this year. 

Then giant pandas returned to the San Diego Zoo this summer for the first time since 2019. And in May, first lady Dr. Jill Biden joined Smithsonian officials to announce pandas were coming back to the nation’s capital. 

Bao Li, a 2-year-old male, was born in Sichuan to father An An and mother Bao Bao. He already has ties to the U.S.: Bao Li’s mother was born at the National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in 2013 and his grandparents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, lived at the National Zoo from 2000 to 2023.

Qing Bao, the female panda headed to the U.S., is also 2 years old.

The pandas will be quarantined for at least 30 days after they arrive at the National Zoo, according to the facility. Quarantine will allow the zoo to reduce the risk of introducing parasites or disease to other animals.

They’ll then have a few more weeks to settle into their new home before their public debut. The Smithsonian Zoo has not yet shared a public debut, only saying that it will be announced “as soon as the animal care team feels the bears are ready to meet visitors.”

The giant panda is currently listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. 

The National Zoo is also home to red pandas.