Giant Panda Cub Bei Bei Will Make His Public Debut Jan. 16, 2016

To download new photos of Bei Bei, visit the Zoo’s Flickr page.

Giant panda cub Bei Bei (BAY-BAY) will go on public exhibit for the first time Jan. 16, 2016. In the past three months, he has transformed from a pink hairless cub weighing about 5 ounces to a robust 12.5-pound black-and-white cub capable of crawling and sometimes walking on his own. The panda team has been monitoring him carefully since his birth Aug. 22. He is larger than both his older siblings Bao Bao (BOW-BOW) and Tai Shan (tie-SHON) were at the same age. The panda house has been closed since August to give the mother and cub quiet and time to bond. When it reopens, the panda house will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

Members of Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) will be able to see Bei Bei starting Jan. 8, 2016. FONZ will share more details with members, including through the Member News page on the Zoo’s website, in the coming weeks.

Although the panda house will once again receive visitors in the New Year, Mei Xiang and Bei Bei will continue to have access to the den where Bei Bei was born. When they spend time in the den, they will only be visible on the panda cams. On high visitation days, visitors will be allowed into the panda house in small groups. In the coming weeks, the National Zoo will release more details about visiting Bei Bei and special #ZooMeet Instagram meetups. The Zoo will continue to provide updates on Bei Bei, Mei Xiang, Bao Bao and Tian Tian through the giant panda e-newsletter, Twitter (@NationalZoo), Facebook and Instagram (@SmithsonianZoo) using #PandaStory.

# # #

Photo: Keeper Juan Rodriguez holds Bei Bei during a routine weigh-in. The panda cub’s most recent weight was 12.5 pounds. Smithsonian’s National Zoo 

SI-531-2015