It's a bittersweet day for fans of the giant pandas at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
Mei Xiang celebrated her 25th birthday in style on Saturday with a blue "fruitsicle cake" shaped like the number 25.
The cake is made of frozen and diluted apple juice, apples, mashed sweet potatoes and carrots, the zoo said in a tweet that included video of Mei Xiang munching away.
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Zookeepers gave Mei Xiang the panda-friendly treat at 9 a.m. on Saturday in a celebration that Zoo visitors could watch in-person or online with the Zoo's Giant Panda Cam.
Reaching age 25 means Mei Xiang is well into old age for a giant panda. Most pandas in the wild live to be between 15 and 20 years old, while pandas in captivity live a bit longer, usually to around 30 years old, according to the National Zoo.
"Chinese scientists have reported zoo pandas as old as 35," the Zoo says on its informational page about pandas. "The Smithsonian National Zoo's Hsing-Hsing died at age 28 in 1999."
But it seems as though Mei Xiang will spend her last few years away from the District. The agreement that brought the pandas to D.C., between the Zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, expires this December.
"The Zoo has renewed its Giant Panda Cooperative Research and Breeding Agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association three times since 2000," the National Zoo says on its website. "The current research agreement extension was signed Dec. 7, 2020 and stipulates giant pandas may live at the Zoo into December of 2023."
If there have been any talks about renewing that contract a fourth time, the zoo has kept it very quiet. And according to the same Zoo webpage that announces each of the three panda's birthday celebration dates, this year is the last time those pandas will party in the District.
"Join us as Mei Xiang, Xiao Qi Ji, and Tian Tian celebrate their last birthdays in Washington, D.C.," the page reads.
If you want to soak in as much un-bear-ably cute joy as you can before the Pandas leave the Zoo, visiting hours run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the summer, with last admission at 5 p.m. Winter hours start Sept. 15, and run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with last admittance at 3 p.m.
Admission to the zoo is free, but timed passes are required. Learn more here.
There are also two more panda birthdays this summer. Xiao Qi, the baby panda born in 2020, celebrates his third birthday on Aug. 21, while his dad Tian Tian -- the oldest panda at the Zoo -- celebrates his 26th birthday on Aug. 27.
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