President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel give children toy pandas as gifts during the opening ceremony of the Panda Garden at the Berlin Zoo in Berlin, July 5, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

"We look forward to seeing the pandas," said Kerstin Eistest, a Frankfurt resident who was visiting the zoo with her 8-year-old daughter Frida. "We like them for their color and their soft and cuddly nature."

Pandas have been on the endangered list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature since 1990, but extensive conservation efforts in recent decades have led to an increase in their numbers. Last year, it changed the panda's status to "vulnerable". According to the World Wildlife Fund, about 1,864 pandas live in the wild today.

Knieriem, the zoo director, said he hopes visitors seeing pandas in Berlin will be prompted to think about doing more for environmental conservation.

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