I know it seems like I am on the baby bear beat lately, but that’s only because I am.
On Wednesday, Bei Bei, a four-month-old giant panda cub, made his debut at the Smithsonian National Zoo, weighing in at 17 and a half pounds and looking like one million bucks, even despite his fraught upbringing.
According to associate director of animal care Dr. Brandie Smith, the cub is a “boisterous little boy… [who] sometimes likes to show us how tough he is by lunging at us.” He will spend a little over a year under the care and supervision of his mom, a fully-grown giant panda named Mei Xiang.
His dad is deadbeat Tian Tian, who “inseminated” Mei Xiang and then left her to raise the kids, including Bei Bei’s unnamed brother who died of pneumonia when they were cubs. He also has an older sister named Bao Bao, who really holds the family together emotionally.
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