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‘Flirtatious’ behavior from National Zoo’s pandas caught on camera

By Ian Crawford

It’s probably not much of anything yet, but Qing Bao and Bao Li are at least getting curious about each other. That’s what staff at the National Zoo in D.C. said in a post on X.

They were caught on video last month “bleating” at each other. The zoo said that’s a sign of “flirtatious feelings” from the normally solitary pandas. By the end of April, Bao Li and Qing Bao went from checking in with each other every once in a while to “spending all their time near the howdy window,” the zoo said. The staff at the National Zoo has been testing Qing Bao’s hormones, and said she shows signs of changes that would get her ready for pregnancy. In a blog post, zookeepers said that Qing Bao’s estrogen levels were high, indicating that she was in an “estrus cycle.” But Bao Li, like males of most species, will mature more slowly, according to staff. So, while it’s promising, don’t print the birth announcements just yet.

By early May, while the bears were still interested in one another and vocalized at times, they occasionally walked away, but the staff said that eventually, both bears will “get back into the groove of their normal routine.” WTOP’s Valerie Bonk contributed to this report.

Did matcha start trending at the worst possible time for DC teahouses?

By Ciara Wells
When you walk into the Teaism teahouse in Penn Quarter, the frantic energy of the downtown D.C. neighborhood melts away on a floral breeze. Hundreds of pounds of dried tea line the walls in decorative boxes, and for Lela Singh, daughter of co-founder Michelle Brown and manager of the Teaism Shop, it has become a kind of second home.
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