Atlanta’s newest residents are getting comfortable in their new home.
After a 16-hour journey from China aboard the “Panda Express,” giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are spending their first full day at Zoo Atlanta, where they’re adjusting to life in the city.
Channel 2’s Karyn Greer was the only local reporter inside Zoo Atlanta during the pandas’ arrival, and now new video from ABC News and U.S. Fish and Wildlife offers a behind-the-scenes look at their flight from China aboard a dedicated FedEx Boeing 777.
The pandas landed Sunday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport before making the trip to the zoo with an Atlanta police escort.
Zoo Atlanta President and CEO Raymond B. King says both bears are doing well, though one is settling in a little faster than the other.
“Ping Ping’s a rock star. He’s already made himself at home,” King said. “She’s taking a little more time to get acclimated, to get to her normal eating behaviors and stuff. But no signs of anxiety or anything.”
The bears are currently living in a biosecure section of the zoo’s new panda complex, where they’ll remain in quarantine for about a month before the public gets a chance to see them.
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“We’re anxious to be able to do the big unveil, but we need to make sure they’ve gone through their quarantine period and are all very well adjusted before we send them out to meet all of Atlanta,” King said.
Even though the pandas are not yet on display, excitement is already building among zoo visitors.
“The panda is my spirit animal. I’m just kidding. I love pandas. They’re awesome,” said visitor Brian Cohen.
Another visitor, Megan Cohen, said her family was excited to be at the zoo, even knowing the pandas weren’t available for viewing.
“We just found out about it the other day, but we had already made plans to come,” she said.
The arrival of Ping Ping and Fu Shuang marks the beginning of a new conservation and research partnership between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association and restores Atlanta’s giant panda program after the zoo’s previous pandas returned to China in 2024.
Zoo officials say they expect to announce a public debut date and information about the panda cam in the coming weeks.
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