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10 Cute Baby Panda Pics Show Growing Cub at National Zoo
National Zoo's baby boy panda is starting to look more like a panda these days. On Tuesday, the zoo said he now weighs 1.9 pounds.
The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. has proudly been chronicling the growth of its new baby boy panda, the survivor of twins born Aug. 22 to mama Mei Xiang.
Mei Xiang doesn’t leave her baby boy out of her sight for too long, but she does leave the den long enough to grab a bite of bamboo, according to the zoo. When she’s on her snack break, that’s when veterinarians and keepers swoop in to give the panda cub a quick checkup.
Cubs at this stage usually gain between 40 and 55 grams per day, the zoo notes. The zoo said on social media Tuesday that the panda cub now weighs 1.9 pounds. When they are born, baby pandas weight about .2 pounds and are 1/900th the weight of an adult panda.
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The National Zoo’s panda cub’s eyes are still closed, which is normal, the zoo says. Cubs’ eyes generally open when they are 6 to 8 weeks old. Keep up with the panda cub’s progress on Twitter at #PandaStory.
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