The Washington attraction marked the giant panda’s birthday with themed enrichment and a fruitsicle cake as cooler autumn weather brings an active season for panda viewing.
Giant panda Qing Bao celebrated her fifth birthday at Smithsonian’s National Zoo with a 1970s-themed enrichment party and a specially prepared fruitsicle cake. — Credit: Skip Brown/Smithsonian
- Female giant panda Qing Bao celebrated her fifth birthday at Smithsonian’s National Zoo on 12 September 2026.
- Keepers created 1970s-themed enrichment, including decorated food boxes, new puzzle toys and a van-shaped frozen fruitsicle cake.
- Keeper Mariel Lally says cooler autumn weather tends to bring more energetic afternoon behaviour from Qing Bao.
- Zoo admission remains free with an entry pass required, and seasonal hours change to 8 a.m.–4 p.m. from 15 September.
(NEWS) WASHINGTON, District of Columbia, United States, 2026-Sep-14 — /Travel PR News/ — Qing Bao, the female giant panda at Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, has turned five, giving Washington visitors a timely reason to look toward the Zoo’s Asia Trail as the city moves into the cooler autumn season.
The Zoo marked Qing Bao’s birthday on 12 September with a 1970s-themed celebration built around animal enrichment rather than spectacle alone. Keepers filled brightly decorated boxes and bags with some of the panda’s favourite non-bamboo foods, including leafeater biscuits, carrots, apples and sugar cane, encouraging her to forage through the birthday setup.
The centrepiece was a van-shaped frozen cake dubbed “The Bamboo Machine.” According to the Zoo’s birthday update, its Department of Nutrition Sciences made the fruitsicle from diluted grape, plum, apple and carrot juices, adding carrot-pulp decorations and a frozen number five filled with bite-sized fruit and vegetables.
Birthday enrichment with a purpose
The presents were designed to do more than mark the occasion. Qing Bao received a new pink puzzle feeder that can be spun, shaken and rolled to release food, along with a handled pink ball. Such enrichment is part of the Zoo’s wider animal-care programme, which uses toys, activities and changing environments to encourage physical activity and problem-solving.
Giant panda keeper Mariel Lally described Qing Bao as increasingly expressive over the past year. Although visitors may see her as more reserved than male giant panda Bao Li, Lally said Qing Bao is “goofy and quirky” and particularly adept at challenging feeder toys.
That behavioural detail matters for visitors deciding when to see the pandas. Lally said autumn is a particularly good period to watch Qing Bao because cooler conditions can bring energetic afternoon activity, including climbing trees, playing with enrichment, handling bamboo and rolling down the habitat’s hill.
A family attraction as Washington shifts into autumn
The birthday event also included family activities supported by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States, with calligraphy, colouring, face painting and nail art, a panda mascot and giant panda trivia with prizes.
For travellers unable to attend in person, the Zoo continues to operate its Giant Panda Cam, sponsored by The Boeing Company, offering a remote look at the pandas and their habitat.
Visitors planning a Washington trip should note a seasonal timetable change immediately after the birthday weekend. From 15 September through 14 March, Smithsonian’s National Zoo is scheduled to operate its grounds from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with last entry at 3 p.m. Indoor exhibit buildings open at 9 a.m. and close at 4 p.m., with last entry at 3:30 p.m., according to the Zoo’s published seasonal hours.
Admission to the Zoo is free, but entry passes are required for visitors. The Zoo recommends reserving them in advance through its visitor information page. The attraction is located on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, a few miles north of the National Mall.
Qing Bao’s second birthday season in Washington
Qing Bao and Bao Li arrived in Washington in 2024 and later made their public debut at the Zoo in January 2025, restoring giant pandas to one of the US capital’s best-known visitor attractions after the previous pandas returned to China in 2023.
Qing Bao’s fifth birthday follows Bao Li’s own fifth-birthday celebration in August, when keepers created a separate shark-themed enrichment event for the male panda. Together, the two animals remain a high-profile part of the Zoo’s long-running giant panda conservation programme with Chinese partners.
For families visiting Washington this autumn, Qing Bao’s birthday is less a one-day event than a reminder of the seasonal character of the panda habitat. As temperatures fall, the Zoo’s keepers say visitors may have a better chance of seeing the five-year-old panda at her most active, turning enrichment sessions, climbing and bamboo feeding into part of the experience long after the birthday decorations have disappeared.
More information about visiting, exhibits and current Zoo activities is available through Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
