Zoo Atlanta in talks to bring back giant pandas

Catch up quick: The zoo's loan agreement with China ended in October 2024, and not long after, the pandas Lun Lun and Yang Yang and their two youngest kiddos Ya Lun and Xi Lun returned home.

• "All now reside at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, as do Lun Lun's and Yang Yang's five previous offspring," the zoo said in a statement.

The big picture: As tensions between Washington and Beijing grew over recent years, the number of giant pandas at U.S. zoos dwindled.

• Then, last summer — months after Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited the U.S. — China sent two giant pandas to the San Diego zoo. They were the first to come to the country in 21 years.
• The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. — which, like Atlanta, returned its pandas to China per terms of the zoo's loan agreement with the Chinese government — debuted its new bears in late January.

Caveat: Zoo officials say they don't have a formal agreement, meaning no current timeline.