Families lined up at Zoo Atlanta to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang on their first weekend in the newly renovated Panda Grove.
By Miles J. Edwards | A.T.L. N.E.W.S. Georgia Bureau
November 9, 2026
ATLANTA – A young boy in a panda onesie was among the first visitors through Zoo Atlanta’s gates Saturday morning as families lined up to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang. The pair made their public debut Friday, Nov. 6, in Grant Park, giving Atlanta its first chance to see giant pandas at the zoo in more than two years. Opening-day time slots filled up, zoo officials told WABE, and Atlanta News First reported that families lined up Saturday for their first look.
Henry, the young visitor in the panda onesie, had seen the zoo’s previous pandas as a newborn, his mother, Jenny, told Atlanta News First. She said she had followed news of the new pair’s arrival for weeks and was excited that her son could grow up with pandas at the zoo. Among Friday’s first visitors was Jessica Hogan, who lives down the street and told WABE that her 1-year-old had already spent about a week asking for the pandas.
Ping Ping, a male, and Fu Shuang, a female, are both 6 years old and were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China. They landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Sept. 27 and spent the following weeks in quarantine and getting used to their new surroundings. The zoo renovated their habitat, now called the Arthur M. Blank Panda Grove, for $6 million, expanding the indoor rooms and adding pools and climbing structures.
Atlanta’s history with giant pandas dates to 1999, when Lun Lun and Yang Yang arrived and went on to have seven cubs at Zoo Atlanta. The original pair and their two youngest offspring, twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun, returned to China in October 2024. Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are here under a new 10-year conservation agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, making Zoo Atlanta one of three U.S. zoos with giant pandas and the only one in the Southeast.