Two giant pandas from China to arrive at US National Zoo

Bao Li and Qing Bao will be the first pandas to reside at the Smithsonian zoo in Washington DC since last fall

Two new giant pandas will arrive at the Smithsonian's National zoo in Washington DC later this year, marking a very welcome return after the zoo's remaining pandas returned to China last fall.

The Smithsonian announced on Wednesday that the pandas, named Bao Li and Qing Bao, would arrive in the US capital by the end of the year. Both pandas currently reside in China, but Bao Li already has a connection to Washington as his mother Bao Bao was born at the National zoo in 2013.