The Honolulu Zoo has opened upgraded homes for its hippos and penguins, and the city is now trying to land two giant pandas — a potential boost for tourism and local families.

• The new hippo and penguin exhibits cost close to $1 million and include a heavy-duty water filtration system.
• The city is in talks with China for two pandas, with a site of about two and a half acres that would also hold a kids' education area.
• Zoos typically pay around $10 million for a 10-year panda loan; the city won't confirm numbers but says private donors would cover it.
• New zoo director John Berry ran the National Zoo in Washington when its pandas had a cub, and Mayor Blangiardi led a delegation to a panda breeding center in China this spring.
• Hawaii can grow the bamboo varieties pandas eat, and the exhibit would use chilled water and caves to keep them cool.

Outlook: China still has to approve the site, and the city is betting pandas would triple zoo attendance.