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Tourist favorites, giant pandas from China, will be back on display at National Zoo

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

A, the pandas are back.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Oh, adorbs.

FADEL: (Laughter) Two giant pandas arrived yesterday at D.C.'s National Zoo from China. Bao Li and Qing Bao touched down at Dulles Airport in an aircraft nicknamed the FedEx Panda Express.

MARTÍNEZ: Oh, my gosh. I think we're really trying to pander to the audience.

FADEL: I think so. And once they arrived, they traveled to the zoo in true Washington fashion, a police-escorted motorcade. Their arrival marks the end of an 11-month chill in, shall we say, panda diplomacy.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, that's because China didn't provide the National Zoo with new pandas last year after the previous pandas went home. Any idea when we can check them out, Leila?

FADEL: Yeah, not until January. They have a mandatory quarantine period first. And they'll be in D.C. for the next 10 years.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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