Panda Cub Xiao Qi Ji celebrates first birthday at National Zoo

The National Zoo鈥檚 giant panda cub Xiao Qi Ji turned 1-year-old Saturday and enjoyed a birthday treat with his parents Mei Xiang and Tian Tian to mark the occasion.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been celebrating for the last 365 days quite frankly,鈥� said the zoo鈥檚 senior curator Bryan Amaral. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really a great chance to celebrate what happened last year all over again.鈥�

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Giant panda cub Xiao Qi Ji’s name means 鈥渓ittle miracle鈥� in English, as he was born in the middle of a pandemic and his mother was 22-years-old at the time, which meant she had a less than 1%t chance of giving birth to another cub. (草莓传媒/Nick Iannelli)

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Giant panda cub Xiao Qi Ji enjoys a birthday treat with his mother Mei Xiang. (草莓传媒/Nick Iannelli)

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Xiao Qi Ji turned 1-year-old on Saturday and enjoyed a聽cake made of ice, fruit juices and other treats. (草莓传媒/Nick Iannelli)

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Xiao Qi Ji was the zoo鈥檚 first giant panda cub in five years and is Mei Xiang鈥檚 fourth surviving cub. (草莓传媒/Nick Iannelli)

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鈥淚t was really neat the way he came into the world,鈥� the zoo鈥檚 senior curator Bryan Amaral said. 鈥淓ven in the best of circumstances, pandas are not easy to breed.鈥� (草莓传媒/Nick Iannelli)

Nick Iannelli

Nick Iannelli can be heard covering developing and breaking news stories on 草莓传媒.

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