WASHINGTON:

If the youngest giant panda cub at the National Zoo is stressed out about appearing in front of crowds for the first time, he isn’t showing it.

Keepers were expecting Bei Bei to squawk and squirm during an audience with a small news media contingent Monday. Instead, under bright television lights with cameras clicking, he quickly fell asleep on an examination table, leaving a small puddle of drool on the tablecloth.

Panda biologist Laurie Thompson explained that before he went in front of the cameras, Bei Bei was playing with a piece of bamboo and trying to walk. Just like a newborn human, he tires easily.

“I’m very proud of him,” Thompson said. “Obviously, he wasn’t too bothered by all the people here. This is just the beginning for him as far as people go.”

Bei Bei is ready for his closeup. The cub will make a few appearances before selected audiences ahead of his public debut on Jan 16, when the panda house will reopen. That’s also around the time Bei Bei will be sure enough on his feet that he’ll get to venture into the outdoor panda habitat for the first time.

Pandas are famously helpless at birth: pink, hairless, blind, and about the size of a stick of butter. Bei Bei, who was a twin — his brother did not survive — weighed just 4 ounces (113 grams) when he was born. Now, at nearly 4 months, he’s 17.5 pounds (8 kilograms) of fur, muscle, claws and teeth. He’s gaining about a pound a week — he’s bigger than either of his siblings were at the same age — and is hitting every developmental milestone.

He’s one of four pandas at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, along with his mother, Mei Xiang, his father, Tian Tian, and his 2-yearold sister, Bao Bao. The pandas belong to China, and after they turn 4, Bao Bao and then Bei Bei will return to China and join the breeding program there. (AP)