Giant pandas explore their new Calgary Zoo home

Calgary’s long-awaited Panda Passage exhibit opened to the public on Monday, more than five years after two panda-parent-hopefuls left their home in China as part of a 10-year breeding loan agreement.

Two years after Er Shun and Da Mao’s arrival in 2013, twin cubs Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue were born at the Toronto Zoo through artificial insemination –– the first giant pandas to ever be born in Canada.

The family of four is expected to attract thousands, if not millions, of visitors during their stay in Calgary and provide an economic boost to the city.

“The Calgary Zoo is a place where joy of nature and hope for the future go hand in hand, so it’s only fitting that baby pandas be called Jia Yueyue, Canadian Joy, and Jia Panpan, Canadian Hope, should grow up here,” Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell,told the large crowd at the exhibit’s opening ceremonies.

“Our new panda family is going to make this an even busier place in the coming years, and I trust we’ll all benefit form the valuable lessons that they teach us.”

It’s estimated there are fewer than 1,800 giant pandas left in the wild.

They are considered a vulnerable species –– not quite endangered, but because more than half of the giant panda’s natural habitat has been erased within the past 50 years, Calgary Zoo president Dr. Clément Lanthier said breeding programs such as this one are more important than ever.

“Just as bamboo forests are crucially important to pandas, so our own forests in Canada are vitally important to many iconic Canadian species,” Lanthier said. “These international symbols of wildlife conservation will provide us with new audiences to talk about what each one of us can do to protect animals, big and small.”