Watching the US news has felt rather depressing as of late – but I think I found the perfect pick-me-up: the Panda Cam at the National Zoo is returning, thanks to two new residents. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute is relaunching its popular panda livestream, this time with its two new bears Bao Li and Qing Bao.
The Panda Cam, which first launched in 2001, shut down last year after the zoo’s previous panda residents returned to a panda reserve in China – accompanied by the cub, Xiao Qi Ji, who was born at the zoo and brought so many Panda Cam viewers that it overloaded the stream. In the time since, the zoo has worked to upgrade the David M Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat, fueled in part by another $10 million (around £8 million / AU$16 million) donation from the exhibit's namesake.
The new pandas arrived in the fall, with the zoo giving the bears time to acclimate to the new environment before opening the exhibit to visitors today, January 24. The Panda Cam launched the same day.
The Panda Cam system uses 40 cameras placed throughout the environment to watch the bears as they eat and play. A team of trained volunteers monitors the bears and switches between the camera views. The footage is streamed with a brief delay from 07:00 to 19:00 EST, running the day's earlier footage during the overnight hours.
Besides offering a more wholesome way to pass the time, the Panda Cam also aids in research. The species was upgraded from endangered to vulnerable in 2017, as wild panda numbers started to increase. The species is most threatened by habitat loss.
The Panda Cam footage is available to watch directly from the National Zoo’s Panda Cam webpage.
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