Giant panda turns 2 at San Diego Zoo with birthday party

SAN DIEGO (KABC) -- A giant panda at the San Diego Zoo turned 2 on Tuesday and zoo staff held a birthday party for the animal.

The panda, named Xiao Liwu ("little gift"), is on loan to the zoo from the People's Republic of China, along with the panda's mother and father. They are part of conservation studies of the endangered giant panda species. The zoo works to bring the species back from the brink of extinction

Xiao Liwu was presented Tuesday with 4-foot-tall ice cake filled with apples, carrots, yam slices, featuring bamboo stalks. He also received boxes scented with cinnamon, filled with hay, alfalfa and pine shavings.

The 100-pound cake took weeks to create, the zoo said. In addition to the fruit, it also feature yam frosting. The ingredients all enrich the panda, keeping him stimulated and active and allowing him to show natural behaviors, the zoo said.

Zookeepers describe "Mr. Wu" as an extremely smart and precocious cub. He enjoys playing in a long, plastic tray filled with ice cubes, but once the cubes melt, he comes out. He also enjoys rolling in different scents and his favorites are ginseng root, wintergreen and cinnamon. He is very laid back and relaxed and loves his bamboo, eating 15 to 20 pounds of it a day. He weighs 88 pounds and when full grown can weigh as much as 250 pounds. Visitors can see Mr. Wu at Panda Trek at the San Diego Zoo or watch him on the Zoo's Panda cam at http://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/cams/panda-cam