The little “tank” had been squirming in his den for much of
the morning, trying to get his stubby back legs to work and rolling in the
bamboo, and when animal keeper Nicole MacCorkle scooped him up, he was tired.
She toted him down a corridor and placed him on a table
covered in blue cloth, as news cameras clattered. She weighed him — 17.5 pounds
— and looked at his teeth. He took a few steps, fell fast asleep and began to
drool.
So went the much-anticipated media debut this week of the
National Zoological Park’s 4-month-old giant panda, Bei Bei, who was named by
the first ladies of two countries and was described by keepers as “precious”
and “beautiful” — and as rugged as a tank.
Born in August, along with his doomed twin brother, Bei Bei
has grown into a muscular cub with all four of his canine teeth, wide paws, and
sharp claws that have been dulled only a little as he has become more mobile.
But he still is nursing several times a day and has never
been outside. His limited eyesight makes him a little jumpy, keepers said
Monday during the first of his media appearances this week.
He made other appearances Tuesday and Wednesday and makes
his public debut Jan. 16.
For now, Bei Bei resembles a miniature version of the
275-pound bruiser that he will become when he is full grown in about six years.
And his thick black and white fur is getting as tough as an adult panda’s.
“The cub’s [fur] are a little softer, but as they grow,
their fur gets a little bit more coarse,” said zoo biologist Laurie Thompson,
who had spotted Bei Bei’s birth on the night of Aug. 22. “It’s kind of like
wool, and that helps keep them warm.”
“The cubs are very dense and heavy,” she said. “They’re not
fragile, at all.”
Bei Bei, who first opened his eyes in October, can see
better but still not well, Thompson said. “If something is peripheral to him,”
it can startle him, she said.
“He can definitely look at us, but he gets spooked a bit by
fast movements,” she said.
Thompson said the keepers wanted to wait until he can walk
well before they let him go out. She said Bei Bei will probably be allowed out
in January or February, depending on the weather.
The keepers said he is big for his age, putting on about a
pound a week. “He is bigger than all of our other cubs,” Thompson said.
His hearing is good, and he knows the voices of his keepers.
“The most important thing we can do for these animals is make sure that they
know when we call, we are the safe place to come to,” said Brandie Smith, the
zoo’s associate director for animal care sciences.
The birth of Bei Bei, whose name is pronounced “bay bay”
and means “precious treasure,” was only the third time that giant panda twins
had been born in the United States. The zoo initially said Bei Bei was the
second cub born, but now officials say they are uncertain.
The zoo’s adult male giant panda, Tian Tian, fathered both
cubs, after the mother, Mei Xiang, was artificially inseminated in the spring
with his semen and that of a panda in China.
Bei Bei has an older sister, Bao Bao, who was born at the
zoo Aug. 23, 2013, and still lives there. He also has an older brother, Tai
Shan, who was born in 2005 and lives in a panda conservation center in China.
The birth of Bei Bei and his twin, who was never named,
posed a delicate problem for the zoo. Panda mothers often have a hard time
caring for two cubs, and usually only one survives.
So the zoo tried switching the cubs — leaving one with Mei
Xiang while keepers cared for the other. After a time, the keepers would switch
the cubs back, so each one got time with Mei Xiang.
But after several days, it suddenly appeared that the
smaller twin was seriously sick. During one of the switches, keepers saw that
it was lethargic and was having trouble breathing.
[The six-hour effort to save the panda cub]
The cub, which weighed only three ounces, had contracted
pneumonia after inhaling formula it was being fed by keepers, the zoo said
later.
Zoo veterinarians placed the cub in an incubator, pumped in
oxygen and administered antibiotics, fluids and nutrition. Nothing worked. The
cub went into cardiac and respiratory arrest. The veterinarians tried gentle
CPR, but at 2 p.m. Aug. 26, the cub died.
The zoo’s staff members were devastated, but they still
celebrated the survival of Bei Bei, whose name was selected and announced Sept.
25 by first lady Michelle Obama and the first lady of China, Peng Liyuan.
Keepers said Bei Bei has had most of his shots — he gets
stuck in a rear leg — has tasted bamboo leaves and has started playing with his
mother. He won’t start eating solid foods until he’s about 6 months old.
Mei Xiang, for her part, “is a phenomenal mother,” zoo
keeper MacCorkle said. “She always just amazes us with her patience with him.
He’ll be crawling on her. She’s trying to eat. She will very subtly push him
away.”
She also still hauls him around by holding the scruff of
his neck with her mouth.
Bei Bei’s mobility remains limited. His back legs are still
uncoordinated. “He’s just figuring out how to use his back legs,” zoo biologist
Thompson said. “He’s a little wobbly on them.”
But giant pandas don’t do much running. Tian Tian, the
adult male, runs when he hears thunder, the keepers said, and during the 2011
earthquake on the East Coast, all of the pandas ran.
Bei Bei, as with other giant pandas born at the zoo, will
eventually be sent to China, the species’ native land. China owns and leases
all giant pandas in U.S. zoos and requires that cubs born in the United States
go to China to breed when they are about 4 years old.
“It’s very sad,” Thompson said. “But we know, as keepers
that work with pandas, that that’s the case. . . . So you definitely try to
. . . not get overly attached. . . . You just kind of get it in your head, ‘No,
these cubs are going.’ ”
“You just have to remind yourself,” she said.
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