While many are eagerly awaiting the public debut of the two new pandas — Bao Li and Qing Bao — at the National Zoo, the animal exchange has larger global implications than the likely boost in zoo visitors,

There’s lush new sod in the National Zoo’s giant panda compound. There’s a new panda “hammock,” made out of strips of fire hose. And there are 40 new cameras in the Pandacam system. As Washington awaits the imminent arrival from China of two new giant pandas — Qing Bao,