WASHINGTON 鈥� In a bundle of cuteness, the Smithsonian National Zoo鈥檚 giant baby panda Bei Bei reached another major milestone.
Baby Bei Bei took his first step under the watchful eye of his mother, Mei Xiang, the zoo聽announced.
The adorable wobbly moment happened at around 4:50 p.m. Monday and, to the delight of panda watchers, was captured on video.聽In the clip, Mei Xiang can be seen congratulating the nearly 3-month-old panda cub with a big hug.
Ever since, the footage has been buzzing on social media 鈥� the 聽alone had topped 4,350 likes as of Wednesday morning.
Before聽the big moment, Bei Bei had spent much of his time scooting in circles and making attempts at crawling and walking. 鈥淚t sort of looks like he鈥檚 swimming in the den,鈥� a zookeeper wrote in the zoo鈥檚 Giant Panda Bulletin on Nov. 4.
Zoo officials had predicted the cub would be walking by the end of the month, based on milestones hit by prior cubs.
鈥淣ow that he鈥檚 got all four paws under him, Bei Bei will begin to wander around and leave the den on his own to explore the indoor enclosure,鈥� zoo officials said.
