Drop everything — a baby panda was just born at The National Zoo, and there's a baby panda cam (UPDATED) [Video]

Drop everything — a baby panda was just born at The National Zoo, and there's a baby panda cam (UPDATED) [Video]:




Clear your schedules, people, you're all booked solid for the rest of the afternoon. The occasion? Last night, a baby panda was born at The National Zoo in Washington, D.C.; and — because baby pandas are awesome and productivity is overrated — the zoo's panda team has set up TWO baby panda cams.

Update: The National Zoo has caught a glimpse of the baby panda on the livefeed — screenshot below

Getting pandas to mate is notoriously difficult, but conservation biologists at the National Zoo have succeeded. Last night, around 10:46 p.m., a panda cub small enough to fit in the palm of your hand was born to the zoo's giant panda, Mei Xiang (pictured up top). That's the good news. The bad news? Last time we checked (i.e. every two seconds for the last hour), the camera feeds were completely overwhelmed.
Here's the link to the first baby panda cam. Give it a shot. If you don't see a live feed, it's because everyone else on the internet is trying to do THE EXACT SAME THING. According to the zoo:

Due to a lot of visitors to this page, you may be unable to watch camera one. If you are unable to connect, try camera two. We do limit sessions to 15 minutes to allow more people to view the cam. If you are unable to connect, try the other cam or try again later.

Here's the link to the second feed.
No luck? Too bad. Looks like the only logical thing to do is refresh both pages incessantly until you are granted access to the baby panda viewing experience. We've included a video of the birth up top; you can watch it while you're waiting. According to zoo officials, the cub was born around the 14-minute mark, at approximately 10:46 p.m.
Zoo officials caught a brief glimpse of the cub earlier this morning, but visuals of the newborn are few and fleeting. That said, there has been plenty of squealing and squawking from the cub, both of which are signs of a healthy baby panda.
"[Mei Xiang] is cradling her cub closely , and she looks so tired," said chief zoo veterinarian Suzan Murray in a statement, "but every time she tries to lay down, the cub squawks and she sits right up and cradles the cub more closely. She is the poster child for a perfect panda mom."
Adorable. Now get those panda cams up and running!
Update: We have panda contact! According to The National Zoo, the little white speck that Mei is cradling under her chin in this screenshot is the as-yet unnamed cub! (We'll take their word for it.)


[The National Zoo]

Top image via Getty