Photos - How Panda Cubs Work

This series of photos shows the development of a panda cub over its first three months:

Panda Bear Cub’s Growth

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The obvious question is, “why are they so small at birth?” This article offers the following description:

At birth, the cub is helpless, and it takes considerable effort on the mother’s part to raise it. A newborn cub weighs three to five ounces and is about the size of a stick of butter. Pink, hairless, and blind, the cub is 1/900th the size of its mother. Except for a marsupial (such as the kangaroo or opossum), a giant panda baby is the smallest mammal newborn relative to its mother’s size.

Cubs do not open their eyes until they are six to eight weeks of age and are not mobile until three months. A cub may nurse for eight to nine months. A cub is nutritionally weaned at one year, but not socially weaned for up to two years.

See also:

- Growth and Development of Giant Panda Cubs: A Timeline

- Meet the pandas

[See previous photos]