Photo by Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

New baby animal alert: The Smithsonian’s National Zoo says that their eight-year-old Andean bear Billie Jean gave birth to two bear cubs on November 10 and 11.

Zoo staff says that both of the cubs are “active and vocal” and they’re “cautiously optimistic that the cubs will thrive.” For now, animal care staff are keeping a close eye on Billie Jean and her cubs through a closed-circuit camera, so as to allow her to care for them without interference. In the wild, Andean bear cubs have a high mortality rate, according to Zoo officials, with the first-year mortality at 41 percent for males and 44 percent for females.

“Billie Jean is once again proving herself to be an attentive mother,”Karen Abbott, animal keeper at the National Zoo, said in a statement. “Right now, the best support we can give the family is to watch them from a distance and provide Billie Jean with a peaceful, quiet spot to nurse and bond with her young.”

The pregnancy of Billie Jean was first announced on November 6, when staff detected two cubs in her ultrasound. The father is a 21-year-old male Andean bear named Cisco, who came to the Zoo in September of 2013. Billie Jean previously gave birth to cubs in January of 2010 and December of 2012. The cubs, Bernardo, Chaska, Curt, and Nicole all survived and Billie Jean “proved to be an excellent mother.” According to Zoo officials Billie Jean’s new cubs are significant in that they’re “one of four litters born in North American zoos in the past nine years.”

But don’t expect to see the cubs anytime soon, the Zoo says that “Billie Jean will stay inside with her cubs, and if the cubs are healthy and thrive, all three will go out in the yard this spring.” Until then.