GIANT PANDAS, ZOO ATLANTA
- Local Time
- Location: Zoo Atlanta, United States
- Source: Atlanta Zoo - Panda Cam
-
Info: Two giant pandas Ping Ping and Fu Shuang arrived at
Zoo Atlanta on Sunday September 27th, 2026. The giant pandas are on loan from the Chinese government for a 10 year period, as part of Beijing’s long tradition of “panda diplomacy”
Zoo Atlanta returned its previous four resident pandas to China in late 2024, concluding a 25-year program.
View the location of Zoo Atlanta, with Mapquest
More info: Giant pandas once roamed a vast swath of China, along with parts of northern Myanmar and Vietnam, but human encroachment shrank their habitat to just six mountain ranges above the Sichuan basin, deep in China’s hinterland. Now Sichuan province boasts a latticework of panda nature reserves and breeding centres, all built in recent decades as China – and the world – raced to save pandas from extinction.
For the most part, giant pandas are loners. They dislike being around other pandas so much that they have a heightened sense of smell that lets them know when another panda is nearby so it can be avoided. If they do come in contact with one another they'll growl, swat and bite each other until one gives up and leaves.
On average, in the wild, a giant panda's territory is about 5 square kilometers. To mark their territory, giant pandas secrete a waxy scent marker from a scent gland underneath their tail. Other giant pandas can likely tell the sex, age, reproductive condition, social status and more by sniffing the potent marker. The only time that giant pandas seek each other out is during their spring mating season. Males will use their sensitive smelling ability to sniff out a female when ready to mate. Females mate every two to three years.
Additional Information: