¡°We're actually going to go meet now with some of the folks from the Smithsonian National Zoo from DC who have flown here and are part of the transition team to bring Bao Li and Qing Bao back to the US.¡±
We can't go back there, but that's where Bao Li and Qing Bao are. They're 2in quarantine. And those you saw there were the 3zookeepers from the National Zoo, as well as some caretakers from China.
Mariel Lally, Smithsonian¡¯s National Zoo Panda Keeper: So, they both have pretty different personalities. Bao Li has 4a huge personality. So, he's very 5vocal, he's very energetic, and he's always kind of like up doing something. Qing Bao is the 6polar opposite. She can be almost always found in a tree or sleeping on her climbing structure.
David Culver: The panda pair will 7fill a void at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, DC. For the past 11 months, the panda 8exhibithas sat empty. Now, as part of the terms of the Smithsonian's exchange program with China, late last year, the zoo's three pandas were sent back here to Chengdu.
¡°I don't think people realize how 9touch it could.¡±
¡°When you're here, I mean in this setting, what has 10stood out to you?¡±
Ellen Stofa, Under Secretary for Science and Research: Here are the sheer number of pandas.
David Culver: It's crazy, right? You turn here and you're like, oh wait, you can go there, you can go there. Nowhere else do we have something like that.
Ellen Stofa: Nowhere else in the scenery is obviously beautiful and the 11commitment.
David Culver: Pandas were 12on the brink of 13extinction, but in recent years they've moved from 14endangered to 15vulnerable. But there's still more work to go. The Panda Exchange, also called Panda 16Diplomacy, 17dates back more than 50 years now, when China gifted two pandas to the U.S. following President Nixon's historic visit. Today they're given 18on loan. And they are a 19strategic 20diplomatic tool, serving as 21ambassadors of hope and spreading global 22goodwill. Somehow pandas were able to unite nations. Something we could use about right now.