The Zoo Atlanta pandas flew to China on 12 October 2024, when the zoo’s 25-year loan agreement expired. Lun Lun, Yang Yang and their twin daughters Ya Lun and Xi Lun now live at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. A new pair is due in Atlanta within days.
Where Are Lun Lun and Yang Yang Now?
Both pandas live at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan, China, and neither is expected to return to the United States. They left Atlanta on the morning of 12 October 2024 aboard a FedEx Boeing 777 freighter chartered for the trip and nicknamed the Panda Express, landing in Chengdu the following day, where new keepers met them on the tarmac.
Lun Lun, born on 25 August 1997, and Yang Yang, the same age, were both 27 at the time of the flight. They had lived at Zoo Atlanta since 1999, a span of 25 years.
Their twin daughters Ya Lun and Xi Lun, born at the zoo in 2016, travelled with them. The couple’s five older offspring had already been sent to China in earlier years, so all nine animals in the Atlanta family line are now at the same Chengdu facility.
Why Did the Pandas Leave Zoo Atlanta?
The pandas left because the contract under which China lent them to Atlanta ran out. Zoo Atlanta’s original agreement covered 1999 to 2024, and the zoo says it expired in October 2024, at which point the animals reverted to China as every such loan requires.
No illness or incident was involved, and Zoo Atlanta announced the plan months in advance, in May 2024. Coverage at the time noted that relations between Beijing and Washington were strained, and Atlanta’s four were the last pandas in the country still held under China’s older round of long-term loans.
That did not leave the United States without pandas, despite a common assumption. San Diego Zoo had already received Yun Chuan and Xin Bao on 27 June 2024, the first giant pandas to enter the country in 21 years, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo took delivery of Bao Li and Qing Bao on 15 October 2024, three days after the Atlanta group flew out.
The Seven Cubs Born at Zoo Atlanta
Lun Lun and Yang Yang produced seven cubs in Atlanta between 2006 and 2016, including two sets of twins. Every one of them is now in China.
- Mei Lan, 2006: The pair’s first cub and the first giant panda born at Zoo Atlanta.
- Xi Lan, 2008: Their second cub.
- Po, 2010: Their third cub, and the last single birth of the run.
- Mei Lun and Mei Huan, 2013: The pair’s first set of twins.
- Ya Lun and Xi Lun, 2016: A second set of twins, and the last pandas born at the zoo.
No panda has been born at Zoo Atlanta since 2016. The five older cubs were transferred to China before 2024, which is why the final flight carried only the parents and the 2016 twins.
Who Are Ping Ping and Fu Shuang?
Ping Ping is a male giant panda and Fu Shuang is a female, both born in 2020 at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Ping Ping was 6 years old in September 2026 and Fu Shuang turns 6 in October 2026.
Zoo Atlanta announced the pair on 23 April 2026, under a new International Cooperative Research Agreement on Giant Panda Conservation signed with the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Raymond B. King, the zoo’s president and chief executive, said Zoo Atlanta was “delighted and honored to yet again be trusted as stewards of this treasured species”.
When Do the New Pandas Arrive?
Within days of 24 September 2026, though no landing date has been published. Speaking at the White House that day during his first state visit to the United States in 11 years, Chinese President Xi Jinping said: “In a few days, two pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people.”
That was the first public confirmation of timing from either government, five months after the agreement itself was announced. As of 25 September 2026 the pandas have not arrived in Atlanta, and the zoo has not named a date on which visitors will be able to see them. Its panda habitat is being expanded, with preliminary design work started in February 2025 and construction still under way.
The announcement was read widely as a sign of warming relations, arriving in the same week as other US-China agreements reached around the visit.
What the New Agreement Does Not Say
Neither Zoo Atlanta nor China has published the length or the financial terms of the 2026 agreement. That is a gap worth noting, because the comparable deal for Washington’s pandas was described as running a decade, and Atlanta’s previous arrangement was a clearly dated 25-year term.
Three things remain unstated as of 25 September 2026: how many years Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are expected to stay, what the annual conservation fee is, and whether any cubs born in Atlanta would follow the old pattern of being transferred to China. Zoo Atlanta has said only that it will make further announcements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Zoo Atlanta’s Pandas Die?
No. None of the four was ill and none died in Atlanta. The loan contract simply ended, and all four arrived safely in Chengdu on 13 October 2024.
How Old Were Lun Lun and Yang Yang When They Left Atlanta?
Both were 27. Lun Lun was born on 25 August 1997 and Yang Yang was born the same year, and the pair had been at Zoo Atlanta for 25 years by the time they flew out.
Can Visitors See Pandas at Zoo Atlanta Right Now?
Not yet. Zoo Atlanta has had no giant pandas on site since 12 October 2024, and it had not announced a public viewing date for Ping Ping and Fu Shuang as of 25 September 2026.
Who Owns Ping Ping and Fu Shuang?
China does. Giant pandas at American zoos are lent rather than given, which is why Zoo Atlanta’s earlier group returned when the contract expired. Ping Ping and Fu Shuang travel under the April 2026 agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association.
