Foreign-born pandas join China's efforts to boost wild population

Foreign-born pandas join China's efforts to boost wild population

After years of charming millions of people around the world with their furry bodies and clumsy antics, foreign-born giant pandas are adapting to new lives in China.

The fluffy envoys are loaned to overseas zoos as part of Beijing's "panda diplomacy", with the offspring returned to China within a few years of their birth to join breeding programmes.

"When they first come back, we'll speak a little bit of English to the English-speaking ones, and then we'll slowly change into speaking Chinese," keeper Li Xiaoyan says.