San Diego Zoo Makes Exciting Announcement About Their 2 New Resident Pandas

When visiting any zoo around the United States, you can be reasonably sure to see some pretty cool animals, like lions, bears, giraffes, and zebras — you know, the likely suspects. But there are some animals who aren't present at every zoo in the country, pandas included. Since pandas are so special to their native China, there's only way for them to make it into the U.S., and that's on a loan program from their home country. That means that until now, the only place you could see them without leaving America was Zoo Atlanta in Georgia.

But all of that is changing, because the pandas have officially returned to San Diego Zoo. And now that the zoo is sharing some of the first glimpses of them, people are getting very excited to see them in action again!

On Saturday, June 20, @sandiegozoo shared this very special update on their official TikTok account, revealing that giant pandas Yun Chuan and Xin Bao will make their public debut at the zoo's Panda Ridge on August 8 — that's so soon!

It's no wonder these animals are so popular, because even just seeing them in this video is so cool; Yun Chuan and Xin Bao are really making themselves at home!

If you want to see the pandas for yourself, the zoo pointed out that you'll either need a free timed ticket (which you can obtain the day of your visit) or join the standby line, though there might be a bit of a wait — and the zoo won't guarantee that you'll get to see the pandas before closing.

If you'd rather plan in advance, you can reserve a spot in the zoo's 60-minute Early Morning With Pandas tour . However, this does come at an additional cost, starting at $92 per person (so you'll still need a ticket to the zoo). If the tour interests you, you'll want to book soon — several of the dates are already sold out, and the first available spot is now in September. Whoa!

More About the Giant Pandas at San Diego Zoo

The pandas will be hanging out at Panda Ridge , an area meant to emulate their natural habitats in the Sichuan, Gansu, and Shanxi provinces of China.

The zoo's website also offers a bit of background on the pandas you'll see during your visit. Yun Chuan is a male panda (the one with the more pointed nose) who is almost five years old. His mom, Zhen Zhen, was actually born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007, and his maternal grandmother and grandfather have both spent time at the zoo, too. How cool!

Xin Bao is almost four and is a female panda, and you'll know her when you see her by her big, round face. She has a naturally playful personality, so she should be a fun one to watch when you visit!

If you're hoping to catch a glimpse of the pandas after their debut, you might want to get to the zoo early. Something tells me that these two are going to be a hit!