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Newly named panda cub is still online as National Zoo closes doors

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The cub brightened up a difficult year for zookeepers The National Zoo and other Smithsonian institutions closed their doors to visitors again today because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the zoo’s webcams are still live, including the Giant Panda Cam, which will keep broadcasting adorable footage of the institution’s newly named baby panda during the latest shutdown.

“LITTLE MIRACLE” The National Zoo announced the panda’s name today: Xiao Qi Ji (SHIAU-chi-ji), which is Mandarin for “little miracle.” The zoo left the naming up to voters, who cast almost 135,000 votes online last week for their favorite moniker. Xiao Qi Ji beat out four other options, including Xing Fu (my personal favorite, which translates to “happy and prosperous”) and Zai Zai (a Chinese nickname for a boy).

Xiao Qi Ji’s birth on August 21st was a small miracle, given all the tumult this year — and giant pandas’ already precarious situation in the wild. Scientists think there are less than 1,900 giant pandas left in the wild.

The creatures are considered “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Their strict diet of almost nothing but bamboo makes threats, like human development and climate change, to the bamboo forests they call home especially menacing to the bears.

It’s also really difficult to breed giant pandas. Xiao Qi Ji’s mom was artificially inseminated. When the zoo first spotted fetal tissue on an ultrasound in August, it said there was still a “substantial possibility” that the mama bear would miscarry or resorb the fetus (a phenomenon scientists still don’t understand).

“AN INSURANCE POLICY AGAINST EXTINCTION”Xiao Qi Ji has brought some hope and happiness to the zoo during a difficult year. The Smithsonian’s museums and zoo shuttered in March as a precaution during the pandemic, but reopened by September.

The institutions are now closing again amid a nationwide surge in coronavirus infections, and they haven’t yet set a date for reopening.“Like many who have followed our giant panda cub since his birth last summer, I tune into the Giant Panda Cam from time to time. Watching Xiao Qi Ji always puts a smile on my face,”

Newly named panda cub is still online as National Zoo closes doors - The Verge
 
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The baby panda at Smithsonian's National Zoo, Xiao Qi Ji, is starting to explore the outdoor enclosure area with some helpful nudging from mama bear Mei Xiang, and zoo staff he could take his first steps in the coming weeks.

Zoo officials shared the exciting new developments where Mia Xiang could be seen encouraging her cub to get out and explore the enclosure.
Click to expand...
wcyb.com

Baby panda at National Zoo explores outdoor enclosure, could start walking in coming weeks

WASHINGTON (WJLA) — The baby panda at Smithsonian's National Zoo, Xiao Qi Ji, is starting to explore the outdoor enclosure area with some helpful nudging from mama bear Mei Xiang, and zoo staff he could take his first steps in the coming weeks. Zoo officials shared the exciting new developments...
wcyb.com wcyb.com
 
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