Happy Birthday, Xiao Liwu! Giant Panda Turns 6 At San Diego Zoo

SAN DIEGO, CA – San Diego Zoo staff and guests helped celebrate giant panda Xiao Liwu's 6th birthday with "panda party bags" filled with treats, stuffed burlap pillows and a half-dozen bamboo-bread cupcakes.

The black-and-white bear, also known as "Mr. Wu," turned 6 years old last weekend at the Barlin-Kahn Family Panda Trek. His conservation-themed party also featured papier-mache lanterns with messages about the importance of conserving energy and water while fighting habitat loss and illegal wildlife trade.

Xiao Liwu is the sixth giant panda born at the San Diego Zoo to mother Bai Yun and the fifth cub fathered by Gao Gao. Overall, the zoo is home to three giant pandas on loan from China for conservation studies. The zoo also collaborates with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in studies of behavior, ecology, genetics and conservation of wild pandas.

In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified the giant panda as vulnerable – instead of endangered – indicating in its report that current conservation efforts are working. However, low panda population numbers and habitat loss remain a problem, according to the zoo.

Currently, scientists count nearly 2,000 giant pandas living in their native habitat. The majority of them are adults.

Guests at the San Diego Zoo can see Xiao Liwu and his mother at the Panda Trek habitat during the day or during Nighttime Zoo summer festivities. The zoo is open until 9 p.m. nightly through Sept. 3.

Photo by Ken Bohn/San Diego Zoo