Male Bao Li and female Qing Bao, both 3 years old, will fill the large void left at the National Zoo’s now-renovated panda exhibit when their predecessors – a couple that had been there for 24 years and their cub – were sent to China in November at the expiration of their lease.

A pair of giant pandas left China on Monday for the National Zoo, taking up residence in the nation’s capital weeks before the U.S. presidential election.