Even as plenty of the National Zoo's other animals are efficiently producing adorable offspring, its giant pandas have generated little more than deflated hopes for another Butterstick. One philanthropist is hoping his investment will change that. more ›

Obviously, no one around the city wants to jinx the possibility that the National Zoo's female giant panda, Mei Xiang, might be pregnant. (In fact, I just knocked on wood after typing that sentence.) more ›

Any day we get to announce the winners of our fifth Exposed photo show and hold on to our beloved pandas for another five years, well, that's a pretty fantastic day. NBCWashington.com reports that Mei Xiang and Tian Tian's loan has been extended through December 2015 -- not only that, the Zoo will only have to pay half of what they were paying yearly to host the panda pair. more ›

We got pretty excited when we came across this Washington Post story, in which National Zoo Director Dennis Kelly outlines how the Zoo is attempting to ensure that pandas remain a fixture in Washington: more ›

If we could somehow justify using emoticons in our stories, there'd be a big, weeping frowny face right about here. more ›

What do you mean you haven't been watching the National Zoo's Pandacam all day? Well, while you were busy "enjoying your Saturday," I've been intently studying these images (read: hitting Ctrl-R repeatedly), and I can say with certainty that I haven't the slightest idea whether Mei Xiang is preggers or not. On the other hand, I can confirm Mei Xiang is still a big bear that likes to eat and laze about on that block. Yay, journalism! more ›

Officials at the Smithsonian's National Zoo say they are gearing up for the final 24 hours of watching to see if giant panda Mei Xiang might be pregnant again. Starting at 4 p.m. today, a group of more than 40 volunteers and staff will keep vigil to watch the panda around the clock, with the aide of a series of 38 cameras set up inside the giant panda habitat. more ›

As part of its ongoing efforts to breed a new panda cub, the National Zoo artificially inseminated Mei Xiang back in January (but only after they let Tian Tian have a go at doing it the old fashioned way). Today zoo officials say they have detected a rise in Mei's progestagen levels, which means we're now just 40 to 50 days away from discovering whether it worked. At the end of that time period, she'll either give birth, or we'll know for sure that this was just another pseudopregnancy. more ›

Man, the Washington Post really knows how to twist the knife while the wound is still fresh. Just a day after we all learned that the National Zoo's female adult panda, Mei Xiang, wasn't pregnant after all, Postie Michael E. Ruane files a story reminding us that Tai Shan, our beloved stick o' butter who's now all grown up, will eventually be sent back to China. Oh, and that day could come sooner than you think. Thanks, man. You also had something to tell us about Santa Claus, right? more ›

Oh, Mei Xiang, you absolute heartbreaker. Staff at Smithsonian's National Zoo confirmed late yesterday their adult female giant panda is in fact not pregnant, and was instead experiencing another one of her pseudopregnancies. This also happened last summer. And the summer before that. more ›

The Post offered up a panda pregnancy update this morning that contained nary a scrap of news. Not that we can blame Michael Ruane for teasing us with vague reports that Mei Xiang has refused to allow zookeepers to perform an ultrasound on her of late. (She did the same thing when she was pregnant with Tai Shan! But that doesn't necessarily mean anything!). Panda Fever is practically a religion around these parts, and with young Tai Shan now almost fully grown, D.C. is starting to get desperate for a brand new bundle of joy. It's been nearly three years of false pregnancies for Mei Xiang in the interim (not to mention the 4+ years before her only successful pregnancy), and we should know either way in the next couple of days whether the latest attempt at artificial insemination has worked. Either a new little stick o' butter will shoot out of Mei's uterus, or we'll have to settle for just another false alarm. In the meantime, the zoo's Panda House remains closed until further notice. more ›

The fickle nature of the giant panda's reproductive system has foiled us once again. The National Zoo gave up the ghost this morning and announced that Mei Xiang's latest maybe-pregnancy won't result in an adorable panda cub for us to hug and squeeze and love forever. more ›

When the District's resident panda cub was born two years ago, zoo officials inadvertently compared the tiny, hairless creature to a stick of butter. Since then, Tai Shan has always been Butterstick to those who love him the most. more ›

A begrudging Mazel Tov from DCist to the city of San Diego is in order, as the Associated Press reports that Bai Yun, the San Diego Zoo's female panda, is definitely pregnant. Bai Yun has been put on "24-hour birth watch" after officials detected a fetus and fetal heartbeat through ultrasound images on July 18. More tests confirmed the pregnancy and the zoo made an official announcement yesterday. As you'll no doubt recall, Mei Xiang,... more ›

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their... more ›

Woe is all of us this morning, as the National Zoo has officially announced that Mei Xiang is not really pregnant after all. Real panda pregnancies are notoriously difficult to diagnose, and this time, unlike two years ago, the hormonal spike recently tracked in the mama panda was a symptom of a false pregnancy. Sniff. This makes Mei Xiang's fourth pseudopregnancy. She had three before giving birth to Butterstick (aka Tai Shan), her only cub... more ›

As is usually the case on this day in D.C., there is very little news to roundup, thus our rather loose definition of 'morning' today. We certainly hope you're having a relaxing and fun holiday so far. As you gather up beer and meat (or faux-meat) and head to your respective barbecues, take care. We've mentioned it before, but the entire city will be under added security measures today in the wake of the attempted... more ›

>> National Zoo Panda Mama Mei Xiang may not be pregnant after all -- a recent ultra sound showed no evidence of a panda fetus. Sniff. [WTOP] >> Mayor Fenty thinks people should be able to swim in the Potomac. Sure, if they're willing to become bi-gendered. [WTOP] >> Just when you thought moving to Canada was the solution to trying live a saner, more civilized existence, they go and throw out the hallmark... more ›

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti... more ›

WTOP broke the news last night that the National Zoo suspects its female panda, Mei Xiang, may be pregnant. As you'll recall, Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated by a donation from San Diego's nefarious male panda Gao Gao — an event about which we were deeply suspicious at first — but if Gao Gao's sperm is going to deliver us a new bundle of adorableness to obsessively watch on the PandaCam this year, we suppose... more ›

There's a new tool combating pandas' frankly pathetic interest in species propagation: panda porn. (Link is SFW) Zoo officials in China are using video of pandas mating to induce the animals to get it on during their shockingly short (24-48 hours) mating season. Above and beyond any mere Panda Cam, these flicks include loud audio and plenty of adult situations. The result has been many successful pregnancies. We can only hope this baby boom... more ›

Washington's most beloved toddler won't be sent to an unfamiliar country to participate in a forced breeding program. At least not yet. The irrepressibly cute Tai Shan, who turns two on July 2, has been given a reprieve by the Chinese government and will be staying at the National Zoo, at least for a while. Though the cub is a natural-born citizen of the U.S., an agreement with China says that any offspring from... more ›

Post 'em if you got 'em, Washington. According to WJLA, today is the smack-dab middle of cherry blossom season. We hope you got your photos already. With rain in the morning, a cold snap beginning in the afternoon and winds that are likely to pull off blossoms, this year's best days for walking around the Tidal Basin seem to already be over. Rats. D.C. Council Provisionally Mandates HPV Vaccine: The debate over the Gardasil... more ›

If you're anything like us, you've been enjoying bimonthly "FONZ Flash" emails from the zoo ever since you coughed up the money for a one-year membership just to get primo Butterstick viewing tickets last summer. It's nice to hear about upcoming lectures, new exhibits and the comings-and-goings of the animals in the collection. But yesterday's newsletter contained some... disconcerting news (which we were shocked to find made the rounds last week — without spurring outrage).... more ›

If Washington seems a little more chatty today, it might be that the results of yesterday's primaries are finally starting to sink in. In the day's biggest race, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), lost to novice Ned Lamont, while Rep. Cynthia McKinney again lost her seat in a runoff election in Georgia. We're of varying opinions on the Lieberman loss, but we can say this much -- please Cynthia, don't go. Pull a Tom DeLay and move to Virginia. We could use the entertainment. more ›

Ahhh, Thursday. First day of the weekend. And a good day to play hooky and watch Trinidad and Tobago (powered by Howard alum Shaka Hislop) take on England at noon. And the news for the day: Controversy Over Terrorism Funds Continues: Local officials feel they were cheated of valuable federal anti-terrorism funds. Federal officials claim that local requests of funds for anti-terror program were ineffective at best. Who should we believe? The Post is... more ›

We were going to hold out on publishing anything St. Patrick's Day-related until Thursday. But to be honest, it was a slow news week and the parade was held yesterday, so we're left with little more than to mention that in only five days the city's few Irish pubs will be packed with the Irish and Irish-for-a-day. Maybe the best part is that this year's celebration of the traditional Irish holiday falls on a Friday,... more ›

ButterReality? Buttershtick? Maybe he's big enough for Wikipedia standards, but does Butterstick have his own reality show? No. But the gorillas at the Prague Zoo do, challenging the 'stick in a competition for the hottest eye candy to hit an international zoo. After Czechs decided they'd had their puke-worthy share of American reality television, they came up with "Unmasking", their own satirical spin-off. Contestants aren't thrown onto a desolate island. They're not running around... more ›