Photo by James Di Loreto, courtesy Smithsonian Institution
Butterstick, aka Tai Shan, has arrived at his new home at Wolong’s Bifengxia Base in Ya’an, Sichuan, according to a news release from the National Zoo.
The panda’s 15-hour non-stop flight left Dulles at around noon on Thursday, and landed safely in Chengdu at 4:26 p.m. local time.
While Tai is ostensibly in China to get busy with that country’s collection of foxy lady pandas, he won’t be able to start making new friends right away. First, he has to make it through 30 days of quarantine in the Bifengxia Base’s indoor holding area.
