Giant Panda’s New Look-Alike Is Really Just a Silent Partner

Now there are two giant pandas at the National Zoo. But only one of them moves.

A painted aluminum panda, the worldwide symbol of wildlife conservation, was unveiled at the zoo Thursday.

Dr. Benjamin Beck, the zoo’s associate director for biological programs, said the sculpture is both a tribute to Ling-Ling, one of the zoo’s giant pandas that died last December, and a reminder that conservation is the solution to restoring the world’s endangered species.

Panda specialists estimate that fewer than 1,000 giant pandas remain in the mountainous Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces of China, the panda’s only remaining native habitat. About 115 more reside in zoos around the world. The National Zoo’s Hsing-Hsing is the only one in North America.