Toronto Zoo unveils giant panda exhibit

The Toronto Zoo has unveiled its new giant panda enclosure, ahead of the animals’ spring arrival in Canada.

“This is a milestone for the Toronto Zoo,” zoo CEO John Tracogna said at the ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday morning.

The two pandas, Er Shun and Ji Li, are on loan from China and are set to arrive in the spring of 2013.

Ceremonial drums, dancing lions and two panda mascots joined Tracogna for the announcement.  Tracogna thanked volunteers and research staff for making the exhibit happen, and said he hoped the pandas would draw visitors to the zoo.

“We hope that people from all walks of life will come visit the giant pandas,” he said.

The loan is part of a long-term conservation partnership between China and Canada. Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke to China’s president Hu Jintao about the loan during a state visit in February.

Er Shun and Ji Li will travel to Calgary once their time in Toronto is up.  However, if Ji Li becomes pregnant during her stay in the city, the pandas could stay longer.

It’s trickier than it looks: female pandas are only fertile for one 48-hour period every year.

“We hope to be able to breed them. It would be the first of its kind in Canada,” Tracogna said.

The last time pandas were at the zoo, in 1985, the zoo saw record attendance: 1.9 million people visited the three-month-long exhibit.

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