New National Zoo Photos Make Us Say 'Awwwwww'
It's a double dose of adorable today from the National Zoo. As good DCist readers, you know that we've had two batches of baby animals to coo at lately: the giant anteater pup who has a thingee, and the pair of clouded leopard cubs (also with thingees). Today we've learned, via the Zoo's Flickr stream, that our anteater pal has been named. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Cyrano. He's gaining a pound a week, nursing and hanging out on his mother's back all day.
Then there's the cutest things to happen since Butterstick, our clouded leopard cubs, who are now a month old. Take a look at the photos above and just try and ignore the overwhelming urge to melt into LOL-speak. We can haz more pikchers, plz? In just one month and a few days, they've opened their eyes, moved out of an incubator and into a climbing-friendly holding area, and figured out that the best possible way to spend their time is eating, sleeping, growing, and playing.
In sadder National Zoo news, Balawat, the three-year-old sloth bear whose called our Asia Trail home, is leaving us tomorrow. He's moving to Akron Zoo to shack up with a female sloth bear from the San Diego Zoo . According to the zoo's website, "Sloth bears are governed by the Species Survival Plan (SSP) program, which manages breeding in order to maintain a genetically diverse zoo population. Balawat is the result of a breeding recommendation from the Sloth Bear SSP, and the SSP has recommended we send him to Akron to be paired with the San Diego female, who was determined to be a good match for him." So if you'd like to say goodbye to Balawt, you'd better get thyself to Woodley Park in a hurry. Say farewell to Happy the Hippo, who is also moving to another zoo to be closer to The Ladies, while you're at it.