San Diego Zoo bids farewell to giant pandas

It's the end of an era at the San Diego Zoo. After 26 years, their last two giant pandas are preparing to return home to China. The pandas are actually on loan from the Chinese government and the arrangement is over. CBS's Jamie Yucca reports. From kicking back while munching on bamboo, to watching their roly-poly bodies tumbling on the ground, giant pandas are an iconic attraction at the San Diego Zoo. But now, visitors are lining up for a last look at the adorable black and white bears. The black around the eyes, the white faces. The more you look at them and they look back at you, you're kind of like, you know something I don't know. That's what attracts us to them. Zookeepers Dallas Dumont and Kathy Hawk have cared for the pandas for years. It was 1996 when Bayun arrived from China. At the time, pandas were endangered. So Chinese authorities asked the zoo to help save the species from extinction. But when the breeding program began, Bayun and her proposed mate didn't have a magic moment. Bayun was very much interested in him, but he had nothing to do with her. Luckily, Bayun's second suitor, Gaogao, won her over. Pandas are born blind and deaf. As cubs learn to climb, it's not unusual for them to take a spill. Something the keepers discovered only when it first went down. We literally heard a collective from the whole group in the panda exhibit and everyone was just beside themselves. Whether born here or abroad, all pandas belong to China. The zoo says successful breeding and an increased awareness of conservation helped boost China's wild population of pandas to around 2,000, downgrading the panda from endangered to vulnerable in 2016. Their new home will be the Chinese Conservation and Research Center, where other San Diego pandas now live. The panda exhibit will stay up even while it's empty. San Diego Zoo administrators are planning to travel to China to continue negotiations for new cubs in the future, because after so long, having pandas at the San Diego Zoo has become a bare necessity. Jamie Yucas, CBS News, New York.