It’s a boy!
The Smithsonian National Zoo has revealed the new baby panda’s gender with a totally adorable gender reveal and it’s a boy! Earlier on Monday, October 5, the zoo shared a video revealing the new panda bear’s gender with an adorable abstract painting made by the cub’s father, panda Tian Tian.
The baby panda was born to giant panda Mei Xian earlier in August, making her the oldest giant panda in the United States to give birth to a healthy cub at 22 years old. The cub had its first medical exam on September 19 during which Zoo vets obtained a swab from his cheek for DNA analysis. Unlike with humans, it can be hard to tell male panda cubs from female ones at birth, so conducting a DNA is usually the safest and most accurate way of finding out a baby panda’s gender.
The Zoo also reported the baby panda is now 3.6 pounds and that his eyes are now starting to open. There’s no news on what the cub’s name will be yet, but we can’t stop gushing over its totally cute gender reveal!
Father Tian Tian was made to paint two abstract paintings, one in blue and one in pink, which was then shared in the totally adorable video above — a gender reveal for the books!
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[Featured image courtesy of Smithsonian National Zoo]