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Giant pandas will be back at the National Zoo by the end of the year.
The big announcement came this morning, along with news of a new ten-year research and breeding agreement with China. The zoo will be welcoming two new pandas. Two-year-old Bao Li is the son of Bao Bao, who was born at the National Zoo in 2013. His grandparents also lived there from 2000 until their sudden exit last fall. Joining Bao Li will be two-year-old female Qing Bao.
Zoo officials say the decades-long giant panda conservation partnership with China has helped to move the bears off the endangered species list.
National Zoo has been without pandas after three of the animals were returned to China last year. China and the U.S. started their so-called "panda diplomacy" in 1972 under President Nixon.
Source: National Zoo
Photo: CHUNG SUNG-JUN / AFP / Getty Images