It’s a Boy! France’s Beauval Zoo welcomed a very special new addition last month: the country’s first baby panda (above).
The tiny cub’s arrival was cheered by conservationists because giant pandas are threatened. Only about 1,800 of the animals exist in the wild—all in China. The bamboo forests that are their natural habitat are disappearing.
Zoos play a key role in the species’ survival. The Chinese government’s “panda diplomacy” program lends pandas to zoos around the world. Any offspring are sent to China once they reach two or three years of age. That’s why Bao Bao, the panda born at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 2013, was sent from the U.S. to China in February.
France’s infant panda will soon be celebrated all over again. When it’s 100 days old, the first lady of China will name the cub and it will make its first public appearance.