Last fall, a plane arrived in the U.S. with two special passengers: giant pandas! They are named Bao Li (BOW lee) and Qing Bao (ching BOW). They came from China. That is a country in Asia. China loaned the bears to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

The pandas will live at the zoo until 2034. The zoo will pay China $1 million each year to borrow them. That money will be used to help protect pandas.

In the wild, giant pandas live only in China. They mainly eat a plant called bamboo. But for years, people destroyed bamboo forests. They cut down the plants to make room for roads and farms. As a result, the number of pandas dropped. Today only about 1,800 of them are left in the wild.

Scientists hope Bao Li and Qing Bao will help increase the panda population. Any babies the pair has will be sent to China by the time they turn 4 years old. 

In the meantime, people are getting to know Bao Li and Qing Bao. Thanks to the zoo’s giant panda cams, people can see the bears online at any time. 

“Bao Li is very outgoing, curious, and playful,” says Ellie Tahmaseb. She works at the National Zoo. “Qing Bao is more independent.”

1. What does the article mean when it says that China loaned the pandas to the National Zoo?
2. How are people in the U.S. getting to know Bao Li and Qing Bao?
3. According to the article, how could the agreement between the zoo and China help the giant panda species?