A tiny female panda cub at Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian National Zoo is about to receive her name, a big milestone for the endangered baby that has become the star of the zoo's Internet Panda Cam, Voice of America reports.
Born Aug. 23 pink and hairless to mother Mei Xiang, the baby now has a full coat of fur and has started crawling around her enclosure, much to the delight of "panda cam" viewers and zoo visitors.
"Giant Pandas are an endangered species and every single additional panda in the world makes a difference. So with these animals, one more baby makes a difference," Brandie Smith, the curator of the Giant Panda exhibit, told Voice of America. Smith added that zoo staff have been training the cub to recognize their voices to make caring for her easier.
Habitat destruction and low birth rates contribute to the dangerous levels of Giant Panda endangerment in China, and scientists estimate that there are fewer than 1,600 left in the wild. While Giant Pandas mainly eat bamboo, animal keeper Nicole MacCorkle explained to Voice of America that the right now, the baby panda cub gets her source of nutrition directly from her mother.
"Eventually, when the cub is about six-months-old - so about three months from now - she'll start sampling some bamboo, but she'll still be drinking some milk until she is about a year and a half, or even closer to two-years-old," said MacCorkle.
Possible names for the baby panda include "Bao Bao, which means precious or treasure; Ling Hua, darling or delicate flower; Long Yun, which represents a sign of luck; Mulan, a legendary fifth-century Chinese female warrior; and Zhen Bao, which means treasure or valuable," and online voting ended on Nov. 22. The zoo will soon announce the baby's name.
Click here to see a photo of the baby panda cub at the National Zoo who has grown quite a bit since August.
