The comings and goings of a pair of girls are helping breathe some life into a zoning policy that's aiming to protect the Chinese environment.

As the world's biodiversity hotspots are increasingly stressed by their human neighbors, zoning is becoming a common strategy to balance environmental protection and human needs.

In a move almost guaranteed to quash romantic notions, onlookers watched intently from video monitors as two giant pandas at Washington DC’s National Zoo were about to have their first date in a year.

A Chinese conservation official said on Wednesday that China is extending its so-called panda diplomacy agreement with the US, which would allow giant pandas to stay at the National Zoo in Washington for another five years.

Behavioral changes exhibited by the Washington National Zoo's giant female panda have put zoologists on a pregnancy alert, officials said. Detecting changes in her actions and hormones, zoo officials are cautiously optimistic Mei Xiang might be pregnant.