00:00It's a very exciting time here at the Adelaide Zoo today.
00:06We're celebrating Wong Wong and Fooney's birthdays, they're the giant pandas here.
00:11But it's also a very bittersweet time as Australia's getting ready to bid them farewell after quite
00:17a few years.
00:18They're going to be saying goodbye before the end of the year and welcome a new pair
00:23of pandas sometime afterwards.
00:25Zoo's SA says that two giant pandas have been selected to replace the current ones, with
00:31hopes that they will breed and maintain a really healthy conservation program.
00:36The female is Yilun, her name means idly blissful, which many giant pandas are.
00:43The male is Xingqiu, meaning autumn star.
00:47They'll be sure to draw crowds from interstate and internationally.
00:51We understand that 80% of the visitors who take part in the giant panda experience are
00:56from interstate and they're also a very important piece of the diplomatic puzzle with China.
01:03The new pandas, Yilun and Xingqiu, will stay in Adelaide for at least 10 years.
01:08The state and federal government are currently in discussions about the bill, which is between
01:13$500,000 and $1 million per year.
01:17But for panda lovers, it's really just about watching the beautiful pandas be themselves.
01:22It brings them so much joy and wonder.
01:25Alicia Ladson, who we met today, and her family, well, they travel from Victoria to Adelaide
01:30often to see the pandas, and she says she's excited to meet the new recruits and hopes
01:36that they'll successfully breed.
01:38It's a little bit sad to say goodbye to Wong Wong and Funi, but then exciting because that
01:42means we can keep coming back to see new pandas here in Adelaide.
01:45So we'll be back.
01:46Zoo's SA says it's about much more than the tourism and the economic benefits that the
01:52giant pandas bring.
01:54It's really about ensuring the conservation of this species because pandas have moved
01:59from being endangered to vulnerable, but conserving the species is front of mind.
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