"Two giant pandas arrived at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday after a flight from China, officials said.

“After months of planning and preparation, giant pandas Bao Li [BOW-lee] and Qing Bao [ching-BOW] arrived at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (NZCBI) today, Oct. 15, at approximately 11:30 a.m. ET,” the zoo said in a statement.

The zoo said that the pandas took an “approximately 19-hour, 8,250-mile trans-Pacific trip from Chengdu, China, to Washington, D.C.,” adding that there was “a brief refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska” before they “arrived at Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia at 10:30 a.m. EDT.”

On Monday, the zoo posted on the social platform X that “Something *giant* is coming to Washington, D.C. via the @FedEx Panda Express!”"

Tara Suter reports for The Hill October 15, 2024. [2]

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"The Panda Factories" (New York Times) [3]