For the non FONZ members of the reading audience, Tian Tian is the adult male giant panda at the National Zoo. That is to say, he's the Butter Daddy. He and Mei Xiang are to thank for bringing that lovable little fella we call Butterstick into the world. Of course, as is custom for giant pandas, there isn't a relationship between the father and his offspring (beyond the occasional glimpse through the fence; they......

Good morning, Washington. Think good thoughts for Tian Tian, the National Zoo's male giant panda and the biological father of Tai Shan/Butterstick. Tian Tian underwent eye surgery yesterday to remove inflamed tissue from one of his third eyelids. He's expected to make a full recovery, but in the meantime he'll have to live with the shame of being the one to expose this whole pandas having third eyelids monstrosity. DCist has always held a......

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. But Butterstick -- who is no longer that small, that cute or worth that much news coverage -- may soon be forgotten. The Kids section of the Post (Yeah, we read it. Wanna fight?) is reporting......

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......

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......

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).......

>> We realize it's been a while since we stirred the pot on Butterstick mania, but there's a new way to celebrate your love for all things panda. Keds has their own (surprisingly cute) panda shoes. No, they're not made of real pandas, but these canvas creations might be some comfort after Tai Shan is ripped from our grasp and shipped off to China this fall. >> This Mardi Gras one local blogger (sorta) remembers......

Sometimes at PotD, funny trumps all other considerations. When you add into that an appeal to the comic geek, a subtle self-portrait, and a ghostly image of a panda (you know how we love pandas here at DCist), you've got a winner. Flickr user JamesCalder narrowly beat out this great image of a modern store for lease in the amusing sign competition for today. EXIF data is here.......

Welcome back from your holidays, DCist readers. We hope they were filled with turkey, or turducken, or whatever floats your boat. Around here, the long weekend seemed to be filled with totally awesome global warming. 65 degrees in November, anyone? Anyway, gloat over the Redskins' win as we ease you back into the working week with the news. Even More Reasons to Fear the Suburbs: Because, oh my lord, now they're ruining Christmas. The Post......

Pandas come in more flavors than just butter. Flickr user billadler took this great shot of one of the red pandas at the National Zoo's Asia Trail, which provides some real close up views of the animals. Have you stopped by the new exhibit to see them yourself? EXIF.......

Okay, DCist readers, we give you the highly-anticipated and long-awaited winner of the First Annual DCist Halloween Costume Contest: Nacho Libre! Well done, sir. Nacho had a commanding lead from the start, and ended up with over 30% of the vote. Not terribly far behind Mr. Libre were the two adorable pandas from Georgetown with 25%, and Miss. E. Coli Spinach came in a respectable third, with 18% of the readership vote. As for the......

If you're a child of the District, it's a distinct possibility that dozens of trips to the National Zoo over the years formed very strong memories for you. There's the good old reptile house; the good old elephant house; and of course the good old pandas. Even a dozen or so years after my childhood, return trips offered up the same sort of feeling: not much is ever different at the zoo. Which is......

Because nothing says "fun times" like terrifying giant panda-costumed folks traveling in a motorcade and handing out single-use cameras across the metropolitan area, we just had to alert you folks to the zoo's newest promotional event. Starting Friday, October 13th, in order to celebrate the grand opening of the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat and Asia Trail, the fine folks at the Zoo and FONZ will be taking the panda show on the road. Apparently, the......

We've known since before he was born that, like all panda cubs born in the U.S., eventually our beloved little Stick 'o Butta would have to return to China. But honestly, stories like this make us a little wary of letting the little guy go. A drunken Chinese migrant worker jumped into a panda enclosure at the Beijing Zoo, was bitten by the bear and retaliated by chomping down on the animal's back, state media......

What a night, eh Washington? If you're like us, you were up late listening to Kojo and Jonetta break down the election results as they came in on WAMU. Our favorite moment of the evening came just before 10 p.m., when Mayor Williams told co-host Jonetta Rose Barras she was crazy to suggest that anyone believed he had waited too long to decide if he would seek a third term. For the record Jonetta —......

God, we're so sick of Snakes on a Plane that we want to kill anyone and everyone that makes a "something on a something" joke. But then we realized that there was no way we could ever win this fight, and, hell, if you can't beat them, we might as well join them. And with that, you have the theme of this weeks' Gothamist network post. Austinist makes it easy for us, with Candidate on......

From ambassadors of China's goodwill to international webcam sensations, the pandas at the National Zoo are used to the white-hot spotlight of celebrity. But now, some in D.C. want to take that fame a step further and elevate them to the lofty heights of becoming the city's official symbol. Today's Christian Science Monitor reports (echoing very closely a March 15 article in the Washington Times that we somehow missed) that members of the D.C. City......

Our inbox runneth over here at Overheard in D.C. headquarters. Nice weather, busloads of tourists, and a plethora of outdoor events have all come together to give us some amusement for a Friday afternoon. Keep 'em coming to overheardindc (at) gmail (dot) com. Quote of the Week Museum of Natural History information desk: Two women: "Where here can we find the baby Panda?" Information Clerk: "You have to go to the zoo to see the......

The Butterstick juggernaut rolls on today, as NBC 4 fills a content gap with a story on how the little fellow, now eight months old, has switched from merely chewing on bamboo to actually swallowing the stuff (he also tries to get ahold of his mother's fruitsicles, which sounds dirty, but they're really just fruitsicles). And, of course, we swallow the stuff, happily clicking on the link and receiving as our reward images of the......

Trust us, when we saw this WTOP story, the first thing we imagined was being given the chance to be the ones to help Butterstick down from trees and feed him his daily ration of whatever the heck it is he's eating these days (he hasn't really gotten to effectively chewing bamboo, after all). But no, much to our chagrin we find that National Zoo isn't looking for help with those lovable pandas -- but......

Pardon us, but our fandom is showing. Ok, so it's showing a bit more then usual this week, but we have good reason. A savvy traveler picked up this issue of American Way magazine (check the seat pocket on your next American Airlines flight), which features an interview with local gal (and WB star) Lauren Graham. Graham, who plays the fast talking, quick witted Lorelai Gilmore on the WB's hit pop-culture gabfest the Gilmore......

The National Zoo has made great strides in its animal care since 2000. Between that year and 2005, the Zoo lost red pandas to rat poison, zebras to starvation and hypothermia, an oryx from neglect after delivering a baby, and a handful of other animals from various seemingly preventable causes. Just last year, the Zoo lost a healthy camel and was forced to euthanize a giraffe after unsuccessful surgery to remove a tumor. In recent......

Isn't that a face just made for TV? Our local celebrity is going national with his own TV special. Animal Planet will air an hour long documentary about the nation's favorite panda cub this Saturday night at 8 p.m. The doc, creatively titled A Panda is Born!, will show the actual birth footage of panda cub Butterstick. Now, we love the little guy, but even we're not sure we need to see that. True Butterstick......

Yesterday a select group of National Zoo donors were given first crack at seeing the District's newest four-legged sensation, Butterstick (yes, officially he is called Tai Shan, but National Airport is also officially known as Reagan and we're not about to start calling it that). Parents and children took the opportunity to ohhh and ahhh their way past the undeniably cute panda cub and mother Mei Xiang, while those of us too cheap to donate......

Help name the baby panda something else besides Butterstick, unfortunately...the National Zoo has posted a contest on their web site that anybody can participate in: a naming contest for the zoo's newest addition. Unfortunately the moniker Butterstick, a nickname that was popularized in these very pages and promoted throughout the blogosphere, is not an option. Surprisingly. What you can choose from follows:Hua Sheng (hwah-SHUNG), means China Washington, magnificent Sheng Hua (SHUNG-hwah), means Washington China, magnificent......

Yesterday around noon we came across a group of crabs on Connecticut Avenue. Wearing hot-looking plush outfits emblazoned with the URL www.baltimore.org, the group was wrapping up singing a song when we discovered them. (We snapped these photos.) Later in the day a DCist reader sent us a link to a post on his blog with a camera phone photo of the crabs hanging out at Dupont Circle. What's the deal? Are the creatures of......

Mei Xiang may be with child! We repeat: Mei Xiang may be with child! The National Zoo is reporting that the panda that zoologists artificially inseminated back in March may be pregnant. That's what hormore levels indicate. But it may be just a "pseudo pregnancy," something that will be keeping panda lovers everywhere on pins and needles. Mei Xiang went through two such pseudo pregnancies in 2003 and 2004. From the Post: Scientists have collected......

This photo of street art near Shaw was taken by Georgetown freshman Matt Kallman. Today will be mostly sunny with highs around 60. Nationals Opener Tonight: Tonight is the Nationals opening night, and tickets are flying back and forth for the game on Craigslist. (You can also find tickets for tonight's sold out Moby show at the 9:30 Club) The Examiner, Post, and W. Times all have stories about the Nats. We expect the......

As part of Disney's celebration of Mickey Mouse's 75 anniversary the company has designed 75 Mickey Mouse sculptures which will be touring the country. All 75 will be shown at the International Trade Center downtown from March 19 to April 30. Even though he says "I don't really even like mickey mouse and have never been to disneyland," local photographer Eric Petersen wrote to let us know the exhibit is already up, and he......

Martha's Poncho Is Hot Stuff: Who knew that a fashion trend from West Virginia could send women everywhere searching for knitting patterns? But it's true, says that Post, which details how Martha Stewart's now-famous prison departure garb is inspiring those in the knitting world to re-create it. Kelly Ann Collins' Socialiate Reporter notes on the fashion trend: I was glad when this look went out with those Free Winona t-shirts. But unfortunately, thanks to Ms.......