Panda Mei Xiang, mother of one-year-old panda baby Beibei, eats a birthday cake for her child, which missed the cake at the moment for a noontime snooze.
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Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) members from Chevy Chase, Amy and TJ Deora with their daughters Zinnia and Sage enjoying the early access to see the pandas. To mark the occasion, the facility’s nutrition department spent two weeks crafting a massive 150 pound cake made out of fruits and frozen juice for the young cub, topped off with a giant number one.
Panda keeper Brandie Smith says Bei Bei enjoyed his first taste of honey. Tian Tian, their father, will be turning 19 years old (pandas live about 20 years in the wild). With the help of his mother Mei Xiang and amid hearty laughter from hundreds of visitors, Bei Bei put “good luck and friendship” as his first choice.
For the cute cub’s first birthday, officials from the zoo and Chinese Embassy in the USA threw a big Zhuazhou party on Saturday.
The pandas are on loan to the United States through a partnership with China.
It wasn’t just a celebration for Bei Bei. Around the age of 4, Bei Bei will travel to China and enter the breeding program for giant pandas.
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The z oo held a first birthday party for Bei Bei on Saturday, although the actual anniversary is on Monday. But Kelly said he has visited Tai Shan in China and that he is doing very well.
