A child looks at one of the two pandas that arrived in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Wednesday, ahead of next month’s World Cup. It is the first time that giant pandas have been sent to the Middle East. Photo: IC Photo

One of the giant pandas enjoys an apple at Doha’s brand-new Panda Park in the Al Khor area. The three-year-old female panda Si Hai and four-year-old male panda Jing Jing come from Chengdu’s Ya’an panda base, Southwest China’s Sichuan province. Photo: VCG

Si Hai walks around her shelter at the Panda House Garden on Wednesday. The pandas have been given two Arab names by Qatar, Soraya for Si Hai and Suhail for Jing Jing. Soraya is the Arabic name for the Pleiades star cluster and Suhail is the name of one of the brightest stars visible in the Gulf region. Photo: VCG

A Qatar visitor takes photos of one of the pandas on Wednesday. Photo: Nikku /Xinhua

Si Hai and Jing Jing took a special flight from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport on Tuesday, with experienced breeders and veterinarians accompanying the two on the trip. Photo: CCTV

Workers transfer giant panda Jing Jing on his journey to Qatar from the Ya’an base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda on Tuesday. Photo: Xu Bingjie/Xinhua

Giant pandas Si Hai (left) and Jing Jing await their journey to Qatar at the Ya’an base on Tuesday. They are expected to live in Qatar for 15 years. Photo: Xu Bingjie/Xinhua

The exterior of the Panda House Qatar, which was built for the giant pandas, is an air-conditioned facility and has separated sleeping quarters. In addition, facilities for nursery, medical treatment, food preparation, bamboo preservation and safety monitoring have also been prepared for them. Photo: Nikku /Xinhua