Edinburgh Zoo pandas prepare to leave for China

Edinburgh Zoo’s popular giant pandas are set to leave Scotland this morning - 12 years to the day after arriving in the Capital on 4, December 2011.

Pandas Yang Guang and Tian Tian will travel back to their home in China with their head keeper Michael Livingstone.

The charismatic bears were the UK’s only giant pandas and have been incredibly popular with visitors at the zoo - and in turn have helped raise vital funds for wildlife conservation.

Originally brought over as part of a 10-year arrangement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, it was later extended by two years owing to the pandemic.