Youll have to brace yourself for too much cuteness. Two new giant pandas are on their way from China to the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute and will arrive later this year. That means visitors will be able to see Bao Li and Qing Baowho will look back with their giant dark eyes in a big round white fur face crowned by two tufts of black ears. Awwwww. Who eats shoots and leaves? They do!

　　The Zoo has been recognized as one of the worlds foremost giant panda conservation programs, and was instrumental in moving the animal from endangered on the worlds list of species at risk of extinction to vulnerable.

　　Todays announcement helps soften the news from six months ago that giant pandas Tian Tian, Mei Xiang, and their cub Xiao Qi Ji were sent to China in November (they were forklifted out of their habitat and transported via FedEx trucks to the airport, and their plane was called the FedEx Panda Express). Tian Tian and Mei Xiang had lived at the Zoo for 23 years.

　　Of the two bears on their way to us, one is a descendant of Tian Tian and Mei Xiang. Bao Liwhose name means treasure and energetic in Mandarin Chineseis their grandpanda. And his mother, Bao Bao, was born at the Zoo in 2013. Bao Li was born in 2021 in Sichuan, China at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) and now lives at the Shenshuping Base in Wolong, China.

　　Qing Baowhose name means green and treasure in Mandarin Chinesewas also born in 2021 at the same Sichuan research center. Shes a female and currently lives at Dujiangyan Base in Sichuan.

　　The airline partner is responsible for getting the pandas safely crated and flown. We look forward to once again calling the FedEx Panda Express into service and using our logistical expertise to safely move Qing Bao and Bao Li to Washington, D.C., said Richard W. Smith, president and chief executive officer, Airline and International, FedEx.

　　After the two pandas arrive, theyll be quarantined for 30 days, a normal practice, with caregivers attending to and encouraging them in the panda house. The date that we, the public, can see them will be announced when the animal care teams think theyre ready to accept visitors.

　　We can't wait.