Q&A on the News

Q: Does the United States own any panda bears in any zoo? —Jeff Jones, Cartersville

A: All of the giant pandas in U.S. zoos are on loan from China, Rob Vernon, senior vice president of external affairs for the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, told Q&A on the News in an email. The giant pandas can be can be seen at four zoos: Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Memphis Zoo, San Diego Zoo and Zoo Atlanta.

“These four zoos work closely with Chinese colleagues to understand all aspects of the species including future reintroduction to the wild,” he wrote. “In 2016, giant pandas were downgraded from an endangered species to a vulnerable species because of the collective conservation efforts made by zoos.”

Q: In reading several daily newspapers, I’ve noticed many photos used in print are courtesy of “Getty Images.” Can you explain? —Scott MacLean, Forest Park

A: Getty Images provides “still imagery, video, music and multimedia products, as well as other forms of premium digital content,” through sites such as gettyimages.com and istock.com, according to the company.

Created in 1995, it now has more than 200 million assets available, and media, business and creative customers in nearly 200 countries use the Getty Images website.

“Getty Images works with over 200,000 contributors and hundreds of image partners to provide comprehensive coverage of more than 130,000 news, sport and entertainment events, impactful creative imagery to communicate any commercial concept and the world’s deepest digital archive of historic photography,” it says in a press release.