A pair of Andean bear cubs born last December made their public debut at the National Zoo today, along with the announcement of their names.

Watchers of the National Zoo’s Andean Bear Cub Cam have caught fleeting glimpses of the two new bear cubs born to Billie Jean last week.

Billie Jean, the National Zoo’s Andean bear, gave birth to twins overnight.

Guess what, ursine fans? An ultrasound examination conducted on Billie Jean, the National Zoo’s six-year-old Andean bear, revealed that she is pregnant with a couple of cubs.

I don’t remember the part of The Lion King when Simba was kicked out of the house. But that seems to be what’s soon to happen to the National Zoo’s three year-and-a-half-old male lion cubs, who have started exhibiting some behavior that’s a little too, well, frisky for the family home.

We had worried. It had been, like, several weeks since the National Zoo announced a new group of adorable, internet-friendly additions to its menagerie. Not to fear, though! Today, the Zoo brings word about five cheetah cubs which were born at its Front Royal facility in late May.

It’s been a long, hard day of political analysis, fallout and bickering. As a result, I’m pretty sure that nearly everyone in D.C. would be incredibly well-served by watching this video right now and repeating, as necessary.

Uh, guys: there’s more lion cubs at the National Zoo. The Zoo added three more cubs — seen above in all of their CCTV glory — to its already impressive haul of four. (Come on, you know you can’t resist clicking through that gallery again.) Mama Nababiep — whose first cub born at the zoo unfortunately died in May — went into labor early this morning and gave birth to the three new additions between 8 and 10:30. Happy days, people. Fingers crossed that all seven make it through.

We’ve got ourselves some new lion cubs! The National Zoo reports that at some point last night between 10:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m., proud parents Shera and Luke welcomed four lion cubs to their pride. Oh, and get this: “Because it is not uncommon for intervals between births to be several hours long, we will continue to monitor Shera for additional cubs.” The Zoo’s other lioness, Nababiep, also bred with Luke earlier this summer, and is expected to deliver at some point in September. All this happy news is much appreciated, considering that the Zoo’s last lion cub died in May after a freak accident in which a straw awn became lodged in its lung.

August 21, 2010, for purposes of sheer hyperbole, is that the date that it happened: The “Forearm Twinge Heard ‘Round the World.” Games don’t get cancelled because your stud prospect gets a boo-boo, but the Nationals seemed to forget that in the four games afterward, getting outscored 24-5 and looking about as qualified to play professional baseball as I am.