Giant panda pair makes debut at new home in Spain

(ECNS) -- Giant pandas Jin Xi and Zhu Yu made their public debut at their new home in Madrid Zoo, Spain on Thursday. A welcoming ceremony was attended by authorities and experts from China and Spain.

The pair completed quarantine under the joint efforts of the keepers and veterinarians from the two countries. The zoo will feed them fresh bamboo from Spain, France and Portugal.

Madrid Zoo has helped breed six panda cubs in the last 17 years since giant pandas Xing Bing and Hua Zui Ba arrived in Spain in September 2007, achieving the most fruitful results in cooperative breeding of giant pandas in Europe.

Panda couple Bing Xing and Hua Zui Bao, along with their 3 Madrid-born cubs, returned to Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan Province on March 1, 2024. The arrival of Jin Xi and Zhu Yu is seen as the epitome of the friendship between the two countries.