Giant panda Qing Bao celebrated her fourth birthday on Friday at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in D.C.
This was her first birthday at the zoo since she came to the nation’s capital in October 2024 with Bao Li.
She was presented with a panda-friendly fruitsicle cake made of frozen, diluted beet, pineapple and apple juice with water.
The cake, which was made by the zoo’s commissary team, was decorated with apples, blueberries, peaches, shredded carrots, strawberries and peaches with a big No. 4 sculpture, the zoo said.
Also, the zookeepers gave Qing Bao a new navy blue jolly ball, which they attached to a tree branch. After batting the ball from the tree branch, she found a number of pink, purple and yellow enrichment boxes and went to one box that said “QB Pie” and took small bites on the corners, the zoo said.
Then she looked at a box saying “4-Ever Sweet” and ripped it open and found a cooked sweet potato. Qing Bao went to her cake, took the “4” sculpture from the top and ate a few fruits, according to the zoo.
Qing Bao is described as a panda who is “intelligent, curious and inquisitive,” the zoo said.
“It’s been really fun to see her personality emerge,” Laurie Thompson, assistant curator of giant pandas, said in a news release.
“She was very reserved and cautious when she arrived, but now she is much more confident! She’s also become more interested in interacting with keepers. She waits for both keepers to say goodnight to her before she will go inside for the evening.”
Qing Bao made her long-awaited debut, along with Bao Li, at the D.C. zoo in January.
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