Washington, DC – Bao Bao The Adorable Giant Panda Is Enjoying Having Her Own Place

She’s not so little anymore. In fact she’s got her own place and isn’t afraid to do, well, what we all secretly do when we’re alone: Run around like she just doesn’t care.

The National Zoo released a video Monday of Bao Bao tumbling around the yard of her enclosure, being the silly young panda that she is.

The zoo says she likes to eat next to the lower viewing glass where bamboo can simply drop from overhead — making it convenient for her keepers.

Check out her antics in the video below.

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A Chinese Man Sues Local Government Officials Over an Attack by a Wild Panda and Wins More Than $80,000

Beijing, China  - A Chinese man sued local government officials over an attack by a wild panda. He won more than $80,000 in compensation.

The animals are known for their lovable appearance but despite their placid, bamboo-chewing image they are members of the bear family and have a fearsome bite.

The animal wandered into Liziba village, in the northwestern province of Gansu, where local officials trying to capture it chased it onto Guan Quanzhi's land.

"I saw a panda jump out in front of me, its body completely covered in mud," he told the newspaper.

The creature bit him in the leg and only released its grip when another villager covered its head with a coat. The incident in March last year, left Guan with injuries requiring seven hours of surgery.

The panda escaped.

Guan's son sued local forestry officials and the nearby Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve, which is home to more than 100 wild pandas.

Following "negotiations", officials agreed to pay compensation of 520,000 yuan ($83,000).

Guan is "satisfied with the amount", which will cover his medical bills, he said, adding that he may need further operations.

The number of wild giant pandas rose nearly 17 percent over the decade to 2013 to reach 1,864, state media cited an official survey data as saying this month, with a government agency crediting conservation measures for the increase.

Pandas are a major generator of tourist revenue in several parts of China and for Beijing, which capitalises on the global fascination with the animals by renting them to foreign zoos.

They have been known to attack humans.

The nature conservation organization, World Wide Fund (WWF) says on its website: "As cuddly as they may look, a panda can protect itself as well as most other bears," using its heavy weight, strong jaw muscles and large molar teeth.

It cautions: "Although used mainly for crushing bamboo, a panda bite can be very nasty."

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Panda Cub Bao Bao, Reaches 18 Month Milestone Today: Will Soon Live Separately From Mom

Washington, DC - Bao Bao was born on August 23, 2013, at the National Zoo. Giant pandas are an endangered species, and are protected in part by conservation efforts at reservations and in zoos such as the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington D.C. Giant Panda births are rare.

She is has reach a major milestone at the National Zoo and will soon begin living separately from her mother.

18 months old, is the age when panda cubs stop nursing and start living separately from their mothers.

The zoo says Bao Bao began the weaning process naturally a few months ago. She is now eating significantly more bamboo and other solid foods. Bao Bao eats separately from her mother and spends about six hours each day separated from her mother.

The zoo's panda team expects the weaning process will be complete in early March, and Bao Bao will be living on her own.

Zoo veterinarians also say panda mother Mei Xiang is in good health.

Baby Panda Bao Bao Melting Hearts at National Zoo
Baby panda Bao Bao has had her public debut at Washington, D.C.'s National Zoo, with hundreds lining up for a glimpse of the five-month-old. WSJ's Neil Hickey reports on how Bao Bao is coping with the public adulation.




Wild Inside the National Zoo: Bao Bao's First Year
In the first episode of our web series, Wild Inside the National Zoo, we track a year in the life of the zoo's biggest star.




Bao Bao's First Snow Day!
Jan. 6, 2015—As the year’s first blanket of snow coated the Washington, D.C. area today, giant panda Bao Bao spent much of the morning playing in it for the very first time. The sixteen month-old panda cub tumbled down the hill in her outdoor enclosure, climbed trees and pounced on her mother Mei Xiang.


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Panda May Have Faked Pregnancy for More Buns, Bamboo

A giant panda slated to be the star of the first-ever live broadcast of the birth of panda cubs has lost the role -- after it was discovered the bear is not pregnant after all, Chinese state media reported.

Not only was it a phantom pregnancy, but zookeepers suspect the panda, Ai Hin, may have been faking it to improve her quality of life, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding told Xinhua on Monday.

Ai Hin, age 6, had shown signs of pregnancy, including a change in appetite, moving less and an increase in progestational hormone in July, according to Xinhua.

But after almost two months, she began acting normally again, zookeepers said.

Experts say pandas sometimes carry on the behaviors associated with early pregnancy after noticing that they get preferential treatment, the news agency reported.

"After showing prenatal signs, the 'mothers-to-be' are moved into single rooms with air conditioning and around-the-clock care," Wu Kongju, an expert at the Chengdu base, is quoted as saying.

"They also receive more buns, fruits and bamboo, so some clever pandas have used this to their advantage to improve their quality of life."

The birth of Ai Hin's supposed cub and its progress in its early days, from its first cries to acquiring its distinctive black-and-white fur, were due to be broadcast online to panda lovers in China and worldwide.

Giant pandas are notoriously reluctant to breed in captivity and pseudo-pregnancies are common.

The female is fertile for no more than three days a year, and the time span for a pregnancy is from 80 to 200 days, according to the Chengdu base. Scientists will closely monitor behavioral and physiological signs, but it's often a guessing game.

Even if a pregnancy proves genuine, baby pandas have very low survival rates. According to the Chengdu base, only a third to a half of pandas born in Chinese captivity manage to survive past infancy.

There was good news last month, though, when a panda gave birth to a healthy set of triplets in China's Chimelong Safari Park in the southern city of Guangzhou. The cubs are thought to be the only living panda triplets in the world.

Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland thinks its panda, Tian Tian, could be the next to produce a cub, based on the latest scientific tests, but there are no guarantees.

"It is very likely that we will not know 100% if Tian Tian is pregnant until she gives birth," Iain Valentine, Director of giant pandas for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said earlier this month.

As few as 1,600 giant pandas survive in the mountain forests of central China, according to the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo in Washington. More than 300 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world, most of them in China.

This picture taken on July 17, 2014 shows giant panda Ai Hin sitting in its enclosure at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Centre in Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan's province. Hopes that tiny panda paws would be seen in the world's first live-broadcast cub delivery were dashed on August 26, 2014 when Chinese experts suggested the mother may have been focusing more on extra bun rations than giving birth. (Photo: STR AFP/Getty Images))

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