With their departure, Atlanta Zoo becomes the only place to house pandas in the U.S.
The folks in the nation's capital waved a tearful goodbye to their fluffy panda pals — Tian Tian, Mei Xiang, and the adorable Xiao Qi Ji — as these panda celebrities embarked on their journey back to China.
The Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute announced the pandas’ departure on Wednesday morning, saying they will embark on a trans-Pacific journey from Washington, D.C., to Chengdu, China, which will span approximately 19 hours and include a brief refueling layover in Anchorage, Alaska.
Mei Xiang, 25, and Tian Tian, 26, who arrived in Washington, D.C., in 2000, had cubs in 2005, 2013, and 2015, which were later sent to China. In 2020, Mei Xiang, the oldest panda in the U.S. to give birth, had Xiao Qi Ji through artificial insemination using frozen-thawed semen.
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