Mei Xiang, 2-1/2, a female whose name means "beautiful fragrance", and Tian Tian, 3-1/2, a male whose name means "more and more", were taken to Washington's National Zoo after arriving on a Federal Express flight dubbed "Panda One".

They are replacements for the late Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling who arrived in 1972 as a gift to commemorate President Richard Nixon's groundbreaking trip to China, and quickly became the zoo's top attraction.

"The national zoo is absolutely thrilled and excited to continue the panda saga," said National Zoo spokesman Bob Hoage, who called the pandas' arrival part of an "effort to conserve the species in the wild."

Tian Tian gave a honk, a sign of mild alarm, and could be seen through the mesh of his crate as the two pandas were loaded into a truck to join a motorcade to the zoo.

Although the two were not sedated during the 15-hour flight, neither showed any sign of distress, according to Benjamin Beck, the zoo's associate director for animal programs.

Pilot Mike Padron, who flew the plane from Anchorage, where the animals were cleared through customs, said: "They ate a lot, they slept a lot and they were playing around back there."

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian were born at the China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong, Sichuan Province. Under a deal meant to foster conservation, the center will loan the pandas to the zoo for 10 years for US$10 million.

The pandas were accompanied on the flight from Wolong by Lucy Spelman, National Zoo director, as well as other zoo specialists and two Chinese panda experts to help them settle into their new quarters.

About 1,000 wild pandas live in central China's mountainous bamboo forests, some 120 live in captivity in China and 20 others live in zoos around the world. They are in danger in the wild because their natural habitat is disappearing.

To prepare for the young pandas, the zoo spent US$1.8 million to build new rock and tree structures for them to climb and sand pits for them to roll in.

The pandas' 17,500-square-foot enclosure has two cool, shallow caves to help the giant pandas cope with Washington's hot, sticky summers. Trees native to China -- species of firs, hemlocks, red cedars and dawn redwoods -- grow inside the enclosure.

The animals will be quarantined for 30 days before going on public view in January.

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian will not reach sexual maturity for three or four years, but the zoo is hoping they will try to mate. Any cub they produce will be returned to China.

"We'll probably allow them (the new pandas) to take care of this on their own," said Beck. "We will follow their lead. They will tell us when they want to be together and when they want to be apart."

While Mei Xiang and Tian Tian will be instant celebrities, they follow in the paw prints of Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling who quickly became the zoo's top attraction. About 80 million people visited them over 27 years.

Ling-Ling lost five cubs, suffered a kidney infection that nearly killed her in 1983 and died of a heart attack in 1992 at age 23. Hsing-Hsing was euthanized last year at age 28.

(China Daily 12/07/2000)