San Diego Zoo has flipped the Panda Cam live. Take a look at Xin Bao and Yun Chuan

Amy Hubbard, Los Angeles Times on Oct 15, 2024

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A little more than two months after two giant pandas — the first sent to the U.S. in 21 years — debuted at the San Diego Zoo, fans can now do a virtual pop-in.

Panda Cam is live.

"Xin Bao and Yun Chuan have acclimated beautifully to their expansive, bamboo-filled homes and now their playful antics and natural behaviors can be observed from anywhere," the zoo said in a news release.

At around 4 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday, the live camera treated viewers with a glimpse of an unmoving furry white lump atop a wooden platform.

It was pretty obviously nap time. But the zoo also predicts that the pandas will be seen exploring, climbing, tumbling and chowing down on bamboo.

Visitors who sign into the site are asked to provide an email address, which signs them up for the zoo newsletter.

The live camera in San Diego debuted on the same day that the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., welcomed a pair of new pandas nearly a year after sending its trio of popular bears back to China. They are expected to make their debut on Jan. 24.

San Diego Zoo's Panda Cam was featured in Times Square on Tuesday morning as Paul Baribault, president and chief executive of the zoo, appeared on "Good Morning America." He flipped an oversized switch and live views popped onto screens in the square.

Now, panda fans can tune in and see if they can tell the pandas apart.

The zoo says 4-year-old Xin Bao is the smaller bear. She "is easily recognized by her large, round face and big ears." Spunky Xin Bao is said to be the better climber.

The 5-year-old male panda, Yun Chuan, is the grandson of Bai Yun and Gao Gao, two giant pandas that lived at the San Diego Zoo for decades. And his mother is Zhen Zhen, who was born at the zoo in 2007. Yun Chuan is said to be identifiable by his long, slightly pointed nose.

As The Times reported in August, California's new pandas — Yun Chuan and Xin Bao — arrived after a collaborative conservation agreement injected new life into the "panda diplomacy" between the U.S. and China. The nation, in a gesture of goodwill, had been sending pandas on loan to the U.S. for more than 50 years.

As those loans came to an end and zoos returned their pandas, there was worry that panda diplomacy would peter out. But Chinese President Xi Jingping signaled in November of 2023 that the "envoys of friendship" would continue to arrive in the U.S.