Here we get to see a baby panda being simply adorable as she’s introduced to the public for the first time.
Xiang Xiang made a media appearance at her home in Japan’s Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, the day before her official public debut.
As well as the media, Tokyo’s governor and a group of local schoolchildren were invited to the preview.
Although Xiang Xiang is only small right now, she is actually a giant panda. She weighs about 12 kilogrammes but will likely reach between 70kg and 100kg as an adult.
“A newborn cub weighs three to five ounces and is about the size of a stick of butter,” according to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
“Pink, hairless, and blind, the cub is 1/900th the size of its mother. A giant panda baby is the smallest mammal newborn relative to its mother’s size.”
She was born six months ago, on June 12, and is already proving popular.
Tickets to see her at the panda enclosure have had to be distributed in advance via a lottery system.
Daily viewings will be limited to two-and-a-half-hours so as not to overwhelm her.
Xiang Xiang’s mother is Ueno’s resident giant panda Shin Shin who arrived at the zoo in 2011. Her father is called Ri Ri.
Uneo Zoo is the oldest such establishment in Japan. It was started in 1882 and now houses more than 3,000 animals from 400 different species.
