San Diego Zoo’s new giant pandas make their public debut

San Diego’s newest giant pandas made their public debut Thursday in the San Diego Zoo’s reimagined Panda Ridge habitat.

The pair, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, are the first giant pandas to enter the United States in 21 years, according to the zoo.

“Our newest residents will bring joy to our visitors and symbolize the enduring spirit of international conservation efforts. Together with our partners, we continue to make significant strides in ensuring a hopeful future for this iconic species,” said Paul Baribault, President and CEO of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in a July statement.

The Panda Ridge habitat where the pair will live is four times larger than the previous panda enclosure, the zoo said, and takes cues from China’s landscape with features emulating canyons, mountains and cliffs. There’s also a new shade tree for climbing.

Visitors to the zoo will have three ways to see the pandas: by obtaining a complimentary timed ticket on the day of the visit; joining the standby line; or making reservations for a 60-minute, early morning walking tour.

The walking tour is not included in the price of admission, which is required for the tour. The tours start at $92 per person. The zoo’s website was showing sold out tours through the month of August.

Yun Chuan and Xin Bao have been “acclimating well” since their arrival in the Golden State on June 27, the zoo said in a news release in July.

Yun Chuan is a nearly 5-year-old male born to Zhen Zhen, the fourth cub born at the San Diego Zoo.

“He’s identifiable by his long, slightly pointed nose and seems to be extremely comfortable whether he is exploring on the grass or climbing trees,” the zoo said in a news release.

Xin Bao is a nearly 4-year-old female whose name means “precious treasure of prosperity and abundance.”

“She is best recognized by her large, round face and big, fluffy ears, and she enjoys sunbathing quietly and focusing on her favorite food,” the zoo added.

The young pandas are on loan from China after Chinese leader Xi Jinping suggested sending pandas to the San Diego Zoo as “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”

China loans pandas to more than 20 countries under a program often referred to as “panda diplomacy.” Its panda loans to the US stretch back to 1972 – though the number of loans has decreased in recent years as US-China relations worsened.

Over the past few years, pandas from the Memphis Zoo and Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC, were returned to China. The four giant pandas at Zoo Atlanta will go back to China later this year.

But San Diego’s agreement with China may represent a new phase in panda diplomacy; China announced in April it would also send pandas to the San Francisco Zoo for the first time.

The San Diego Zoo, one of the world’s most renowned, was the first American institution to carry out cooperative research on giant pandas with China. Since 1994, it has worked with the Sichuan conservation center to study the species’ behavior, genetics, artificial breeding, nutrition and disease prevention.

The San Diego Zoo has said that it is working closely with Chinese experts to cater to the pandas’ dietary needs, providing a variety of fresh bamboo and a local adaptation of wowotou, a traditional Chinese bun also called “panda bread.”

CNN’s Jessie Yeung, Manveena Suri, Fred He and Kaila Nichols contributed to this report.