WASHINGTON — The National Zoo’s giant panda cub is doing well, according to a recent veterinarian checkup.
At 6 weeks old, Bei Bei’s ear canals are closed and his eyes are partially open. The cub weighs roughly four-and-a-half pounds, bigger than what his siblings were at a similar age.
And if you were to run your finger along the inside of his jaw, you’d feel little bumps. His teeth are starting to come in.
Bei Bei sleeps so much that his caregivers say it’ll take months to determine his personality. He just might be a mama’s boy.
“Sometimes when she puts him down on the ground, he will vocalize in a way that sort of seems to say, ‘I’m ready for you to pick me back up,’” panda keeper Marty Dearie tells WTOP.
As a cub, Bei Bei’s big sister Bao Bao was far less concerned with their mother Mei Xiang, Dearie says.
“Maybe he’s a little bit more demanding on Mei than Bao Bao was, and that’s sort of reminiscent of his brother [Tai Shan],” she says. “So, maybe it’s a boy thing.”
