Over the next few days staff and pandas will spend as much time together as possible. Getting used to the new faces, sounds and surroundings.

“Qing Bao is our more reserved panda, she’s a little cautious, a little bit more nervous about the new noises and sounds,” says Laurie Thompson, assistant curator of giant pandas. “Bao Li is just full of energy, he loves people, he wants to interact. Just kind of opposites.”

After an 8,000-mile journey from China, Washington’s two new giant pandas arrived at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo on Tuesday, delighting panda fans and continuing a conservation program that goes back more than half a century.