Giant pandas are back in Atlanta. Ping Ping and Fu Shuang made their public debut on Friday, 6 November 2026, at Zoo Atlanta — two years after the zoo’s last pandas left for China.
The pair debuted in the new Arthur M. Blank Panda Grove, a 6 million dollar renovation funded by a grant from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. A ceremony was held at 8 a.m., with general admission from about 10:30 a.m.
Ping Ping, a male born on 17 March 2020, and Fu Shuang, a female born on 18 October 2020, are both six years old and were born at the Chengdu Research Base in China. They arrived in Atlanta on 27 September 2026 aboard a FedEx Boeing 777 — nicknamed the “Panda Express” — and completed quarantine before their debut.
The pandas are on a 10-year loan under an International Cooperative Research Agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Zoo Atlanta is now one of only three zoos in the United States with giant pandas, alongside the San Diego Zoo and the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. — and the only one in the Southeast.
The zoo’s previous pandas returned to China in 2024, ending a 25-year programme that ran from 1999 to 2024 and produced seven cubs. The panda enclosure has stood empty for about two years, and Friday’s debut drew crowds eager to see the new arrivals.
It is the feel-good story of the week in America, from the New Jersey ticket that won the $847 million Powerball to the space world, where NASA named a new JPL deputy director. Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are now on show at Zoo Atlanta.
Bhudev Bhagaliya is an experienced and senior journalist who has carved a distinct niche for himself in the world of Hindi journalism through his profound understanding and precise writing style. With over two decades of experience in the field of journalism, he has held key responsibilities at Dainik Hindustan for 12 years and at Amar Ujala for one year. Currently, he serves as the Content Editor for the Jagrook Youth News newspaper and portal, where he plays a crucial role in ensuring the quality and credibility of the news content. Bhudev Bhagaliya consistently writes about issues that help raise awareness within society and among the younger generation.