A little more than two months after two giant pandas — the first to be shipped to the U.S. in 21 years — debuted at the San Diego Zoo, fans can now make a virtual pop-in.
Panda Cam is live.
“Xin Bao and Yun Chuan have acclimated beautifully to their sprawling, bamboo-filled homes and now their playful antics and natural behaviors can be observed from anywhere,” the zoo said in a press release.
At around 4pm on Tuesday, the live camera treated viewers to a glimpse of a motionless furry white blob atop a wooden platform.
It was pretty obvious napping. But the zoo also predicts the pandas will be seen exploring, climbing, tumbling and chowing down on bamboo.
Visitors who log into the site are asked to enter an email address, which registers them for the zoo’s newsletter.
The live camera in San Diego debuted the same day the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC, welcomed one a couple of new pandas nearly a year after sending his trio of popular bears back to China. They are expected to debut on January 24.
The San Diego Zoo’s Panda Cam was on display in Times Square Tuesday morning when Paul Baribault, the zoo’s president and chief executive officer, appeared on “Good Morning America.” He flipped an oversized switch and live feeds appeared on screens in the square.
Now panda fans can tune in and see if they can tell the pandas apart.
The zoo says 4-year-old Xin Bao is the smaller bear. She is “easily recognized by her big, round face and big ears.” Spunky Xin Bao is said to be the better climber.
The 5-year-old panda Yun Chuan is the grandson of Bai Yun and Gao Gaotwo giant pandas that lived at the San Diego Zoo for decades. And his mother is Zhen Zhen, who was born at the zoo in 2007. Yun Chuan is said to be identifiable by his long, slightly pointed nose.
Like The Times reported in AugustCalifornia’s new pandas – Yun Chuan and Xin Bao – followed a conservation cooperation agreement injected new life into “panda diplomacy” between the US and China. The nation had, in a gesture of goodwill, sent pandas on loan to the United States for more than 50 years.
When these loans ran out and zoos returned their pandas, there was concern that panda diplomacy would disappear. But Chinese President Xi Jingping signaled in November 2023 that “ambassador of friendship” would continue to arrive in the United States