San Diego’s Xiao Liwu Enjoys The Holidays

/ post by Pandas International

Little kids weren’t the only happy creatures this Christmas, Little Gift had some fun playing with some new gifts as well!

During his checkup Thursday (Dec. 27), Xiao Liwu was given some new toys – a doughnut-shaped plastic ring big enough for the baby bear to sit in, a stick of bamboo and a plastic ball, zoo offiicals said.

“He’s getting past his awkward movement phase,” Meg Sutherland-Smith, director of veterinary services for the zoo, said in a video. “He’s walking around with much more confidence, he’s not stumbling anymore, and today we also gave him a small piece of a bamboo stem, which he readily held in his hand and was mouthing like he was a big boy.”

Although the public is eager to catch their first glimpse of the little bear, keepers are waiting for the nearly 5-month-old cub to become a stronger climber before they put him out in a public panda exhibit.  For now, we all have to be satisfied with checkup videos and the Panda Cam.