Baby Panda Takes First Steps At San Diego Zoo [Video]

The San Diego Zoo’s baby panda took its first steps on Thursday and the zoo was able to capture the adorable moment on film, posting it to YouTube.

The giant panda cub’s first steps were recorded during its ninth check-up at the zoo, where his measurements were taken, reports The Huffington Post.

The unnamed cub is now 11 weeks old and can be seen on the video blinking and squeaking while he slowly pushed himself up, walked a couple of steps, then sleepily tumbled over.

Giant panda cubs are normally about the size of a stick of butter when they are born. The unnamed male baby panda now weighs 7.2 pounds and measures 21.6 inches long.

The zoo noted that the baby panda, whose nickname by zookeepers is “Sausage,” is also growing tine teeth, becoming more active, and can climb out of his den by himself.

A lot of attention has been focused on the son of 20-year-old giant panda Bai Yun, especially after the National Zoo in Washington DC reported that their 6-day-old panda cub had passed away.

ABC News notes that the San Diego Zoo keeps blog posts to update readers on the baby panda’s progress. Senior zookeeper Jennifer Becerra wrote on Thursday:

“This little guy definitely loves the camera, as he was truing to crawl toward our zoo photographer, during the entire exam, raising one front paw, followed clumsily by another.”

The baby panda is the sixth to be born at the San Diego zoo under a 12-year-agreement with China, which includes the loan of two giant pandas. The yet-unnamed male panda cub will receive its name 100 days after it was born, per Chinese tradition.

Check out the baby panda’s first steps in the video below. To see live footage of the giant panda cub, click here.