A Day in the Life of a Giant Panda Keeper

This update was written by giant panda keeper Nicole MacCorkle.
Giant Panda Mei Xiang asleep on the Panda Cam
6:30 a.m.

Our day begins at the David M. Rubenstein Family giant panda habitat, and we start our morning by getting a visual on all of the bears. We want to ensure that Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and Bei Bei appear to be healthy, active and moving about as normal. By the time we arrive, most days the pandas are already starting to wake up, although Bei Bei has been known to snooze in his hammock for a few extra minutes some mornings!