New guests to arrive at the Calgary Zoo in 2018

  • 2013-04-05
It has been announced that the Calgary Zoo is expecting new residents in the near future. Two giant pandas from China named Er Shun and Da Mao are expected to arrive in the city in 2018.

The bears will spend time at the Toronto Zoo first, having arrived there on March 25th. They will spend one month in quarantine prior to the new panda exhibit opening in May.

The Calgary Zoo and Toronto Zoo have partnered to commit a $10 million investment into the conservation and research of giant pandas in China.

This is the first time in more than 20 years that giant pandas have been welcomed to Canada. The zoos will likely take advantage of banner printing to welcome the bears to their new homes and announce the arrival to the community.

The last time that giant pandas were guest of the Calgary Zoo, $900,000 was spent building an enclosure for the pair. It’s anticipated that the type of enclosure created for them back in 1988 would be seen as quite inadequate by the standards today.

Zoo officials anticipate the pandas being a huge draw for the facility and this rise in custom will justify spending on the new enclosure.

During the pandas’ nine month stay at the zoo in 1988, 1.35 million visitors came to see them. The growth of the city since that time should certainly make for even higher numbers in 2018.

The hope is that the zoo can bring focus to its work done to educate people on endangered species.