Giant Pandas Research Station

The San Diego Zoo has had a love affair with giant pandas ever since two of the black-and-white bears came to visit in 1987. After years of red tape and tons of application paperwork, the Zoo and China agreed on a 12-year research loan of two giant pandas, Bai Yun and Shi Shi. A brand-new exhibit area was built for our panda guests, which has since been expanded and renovated and is now called the Giant Panda Research Station. Although we currently have four giant pandas, our facility can comfortably house up to six!

Today our giant pandas enjoy deluxe accommodations with larger exhibit areas and extra vegetation and climbing structures. You'll enjoy the newer exhibit area too, with its winding, elevated viewing paths that give great panda-watching opportunities into the two main enclosures.

Next to the public panda viewing area is the building that houses the Giant Panda Team, made up of the pandas' keepers and researchers who observe and study giant panda behavior in an effort to learn all we can about these endangered bears. Be sure to stroll through the Giant Panda Discovery Center, located nearby. It includes a climb-in panda den, interactive exhibits, and even a chance to find out what pandas sound and smell like!

Fun facts

• The People's Republic of China sent two giant pandas, Basi and Yuan Yuan, to the San Diego Zoo for a 200-day loan in 1987. More than two million people were able to view the pandas during their stay.
• On August 21, 1999, Bai Yun gave birth to Hua Mei, the first giant panda born in North America to survive to adulthood. Millions of people around the world watched Hua Mei grow up via the Zoo's Panda Cam.
• In 1979, the Zoo began working with Chinese zoos to help many of China's endangered animals, including red pandas, takins, and Manchurian cranes.
• A panda narrator is at the panda's main viewing area daily to share the latest news and to answer guests' questions about the "bamboo bears."
• Bamboo is grown on Zoo grounds and at several off-grounds locations to supply the pandas with their daily meals.
• The San Diego Zoo has the largest number of giant pandas in the United States.

Helping giant pandas

Visiting the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park helps support our studies of wild giant panda populations. Our Applied Animal Ecology Division established its first conservation science program for wild pandas at the Foping Nature Reserve in China in 2006. Over the next three years, the program will be utilizing radiotelemetry to research several important areas to futher our understanding of natural giant panda behavior and ecology. These include: mating strategies and genetic diversity of panda populations, denning ecology, and human disturbance.