TEHRAN Two giant pandas left China for the United States on Wednesday, under a 10-million-dollar deal to loan them to the U.S. National Zoo for 10 years, officials said, DPA reported from Beijing.

Giant panda cubs Mei Xiang and Tian Tian left a breeding center in southwest China's Wolong Nature Reserve and were loaded onto a special flight organized by Federal Express, the officials said.

The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, which runs the National Zoo, plans to breed three-year-old male Tian Tian and two-year-old female Mei Xiang.

Tian Tian weighs 80 kilograms and is "rather shy and honest", the official Xinhua news agency reported.