Taipei Zoo Receives Red Pandas From China, Sends Gibbons to Shanghai in First Exchange Since 2014

A zoo in Taiwan's capital received a pair of endangered red pandas from China on Saturday, the first such exchange in more than a decade. The animals, a 3-year-old male and a 2-year-old female, arrived at Taipei Zoo on June 6, 2026. They will remain in quarantine for a month and then be acclimated to their enclosure before being shown to visitors, the Taipei Zoo said.

The male panda began exploring the enclosure and eating shortly after arrival, while the female stayed cautious and observed from a distance, according to the Taipei Zoo. The two pandas have not yet been named. Taipei last received red pandas from a zoo in China's Fujian province in 2014, the Taipei Times reported.

Taipei will send white-handed gibbons to Shanghai as part of the exchange, the Taipei Times said. Red pandas are native to China, Nepal, Laos and Myanmar. While tensions between China and Taiwan remain high and official government contacts are cut off, city-level exchanges have continued, the Taipei Times reported.