Qing Bao, the female panda in the National Zoo, is pretty full after eating a ton of bamboo. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

Pandas really have a rough life. People oohing and aahing after you, taking your photo even if you don’t move or do something cute. Your every need taken care of. Indoor and outdoor living quarters. Seemingly unlimited bamboo—which is a good thing considering they eat between 16 and 84 pounds of the stuff each day.

Welcome to the life of Bao Li and Qing Bao, the two pandas from China who now call the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., home.

They made their debut on Jan. 24. I had the pleasure of seeing these two earlier this month with my mom, and friends Stephanie and Bruce. While they were inside and not very active, none of us seemed to care.

I was just so excited to see them since I missed their coming out party, so to speak, when I was in D.C. in January.

This zoo is part of the Smithsonian—which means access is free, though parking is not.

The pandas aren’t just cute animals. Their being here is also about science.

Zoo officials are able to watch the pandas wherever they roam; a public webcam is also available. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

“The Smithsonian’s giant panda conservation program is one of the world’s leading conservation efforts, proving collaboration and conservation science can save animals and ecosystems,” the zoo’s website says. “By studying giant panda behavior, health, nutrition, genetics, habitat and reproduction, and training the next generation of wildlife professionals, Smithsonian teams are working to give pandas a brighter future in the wild and under human care.”

For now, the two are in separate structures, but are able to see each other when both are outside. The plan is to have them mate in a couple years when both are a little older. Sexual maturity for pandas is between and 4- and 7-years-old, with Bao Li and Qing Bao both 3-years-old.

“… a female giant panda is only capable of conceiving a cub for 24 to 72 hours once a year. In the wild, male giant pandas may breed with multiple females throughout the breeding season,” the zoo says.

So, the odds aren’t in their favor. But breeding programs are necessary because fewer than 2,000 pandas exist in the wild.

In 2017, the International Union for Conservation of Nature upgraded pandas from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the list of species at risk of extinction because their numbers at that time was inching upward.

I’ve had a thing for pandas ever since this first two pandas came to the National Zoo in 1972 when I was a kid living in Virginia. I feel like we were there all the time. Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing lived more than 20 years there.

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian came to live at the zoo on a loan from China in 2000. They left in 2023 with their offspring.

A lifetime highlight was in 2011 when I was in Chengdu, China, and was able to hold a panda cub and feed it an apple.