(NEXSTAR) As the Olympics begin, you’ll likely see imagery of the giant panda: one of China’s national treasures. It was once on the endangered species list and still considered venerable. Pandas are now doing much better thanks to active conservationism.

Giant pandas are gentle black and white bears that live on bamboo. They can climb to 13,000 feet are are surprisingly good swimmers.

Once gifted to countries as a token of goodwill and friendship, they’ve helped shape China’s diplomatic strategies. Perhaps one of the most famous examples of “panda diplomacy” was in 1972 when China delivered Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing to Washington DC’s National Zoo after a visit from former U.S. President Richard Nixon.

“It’s really a sources of pride and also putting tremendous resource there have been a lot of improvement and resources going into preserving and developing the habitat of Chinese panda so the more that they can find a comfortable home, the more we don’t worry about them disappearing one day,” said Shenzhan Liao, Head Teacher China Institute.

There are now more than 1,800 giant pandas living in the wild.