Two giant pandas from China and twins born in Toronto

In March 2013, two giant pandas, Er Shun and Da Mao, arrived in Canada on a special flight from China ^[1][2]. The Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens agreed to grant the pair to the Toronto Zoo and the Calgary Zoo for 10 years beginning March 25, 2013, with each zoo caring for them for about five years ^[1]. Er Shun was born at the Chongqing Zoo, and Da Mao at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding ^[1].

On October 13, 2015, Er Shun gave birth to twins, a male and a female, at the Toronto Zoo ^[3][4]. They were named Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue, names that mean Canadian Hope and Canadian Joy ^[3][4]. In March 2018 the twins moved to the Calgary Zoo with Er Shun and Da Mao ^[4][5]. Caregivers from Chengdu flew to Calgary to learn the young pandas' routines, and in January 2020 the twins left with their keeper and a member of the Chengdu facility's veterinary team for a breeding research facility in Chengdu ^[4].

In May 2020 the Calgary Zoo said Er Shun and Da Mao would go home, because fresh bamboo, their main food, had become hard to obtain during the COVID-19 pandemic ^[5]. They were back in China by the end of November 2020 ^[3][5]. The zoo said its partnership with the Toronto Zoo and the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens had been "incredibly successful in leveraging shared learnings and wild giant panda conservation" ^[5].