Come Monday, March 25, Toronto will be home to Er Shun and Da Mao.

The two pandas will arrive from China on a FedEx flight. An MD-11F plane has been chartered. The 4 and 5 year old pandas are making their journey in special crates. The personnel on board are said to be looking over the two and are well-equipped with 200 kilos of apples and 200 kilos of bamboo.

The pandas are expected to bring millions to the Toronto Zoo during their stay here, but first they will go into quarantine for one month. Their exhibit at the Toronto Zoo will open in mid-May.

The pandas will stay in Toronto for five years before heading to Calgary for another five years. The hope is that the two, will breed here. The zoo has three large, open areas for them to live in.

It was 28 years ago when Toronto hosted pandas last, and that was over a 3 month period.