See the Cutest Photos of Three Red Panda Cubs Born at the Smithsonian’s Conservation Biology Institute This Year

The trio of cubs—including a pair of twins—are healthy and being cared for by their mothers. Their births represent a conservation milestone for the endangered species

Carlyn Kranking | Associate Web Editor, Science

August 19, 2026 11:38 a.m.

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At one of her earliest medical check-ups, the female red panda cub stayed pretty quiet. But that changed when animal care staff moved her or did something she didn’t like. Then, she would let out a low-pitched snorting vocalization called a “huff-quack.”

It revealed she was “kind of feisty,” says Jessica Kordell, the assistant curator of carnivores at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, to Smithsonian magazine. When the team returned the cub to her nest box after the exam, “based on what we could see on camera, I think she was huff-quacking at her mom, too,” Kordell says. “Maybe she was telling on us.”

This cub is one of three that were born this year at the Conservation Biology Institute facility in Front Royal, Virginia, which is not open to the public. The first births came on May 29, when twins—a male and a female—were born to parents Sequoia and Mow Mow. The single female cub came weeks later, on June 11, to Keahi and Rocket.

Despite their young age, the cubs are starting to show glimmers of personality. The twins are playing a bit with each other, and they whined a lot during their medical exam. “It’s like this high-pitched bleating noise,” Kordell says. But a lot of the time, they “are really just balls of fur that eat and sleep,” she adds in a social media post.

Red pandas are an altricial species—the young are born largely helpless and dependent on their moms for care. They also grow slowly. Even at more than two months old, these cubs are still nursing and spending most of their time in their nest boxes. The first solid food they’ll eat will be bamboo, and once they start following their moms around, the cubs will learn to eat biscuits and fruit, too.

The first weeks and months for red pandas are a delicate, critical period of their lives. The cubs have a roughly 40 percent mortality rate, and this can be influenced by the mother’s experience level and any disturbance to the family. In the wild, cubs may be susceptible to disease and predators.

Last year, Sequoia and Mow Mow had a litter of two, but the cubs didn’t survive. Keahi and Rocket had two cubs last year, but one died a few days after birth. These new cubs mark the second litters born to each pair of parents, though the males have sired young with other females before. Male red pandas don’t care for their offspring, so the burden of keeping these cubs alive has fallen to the two mothers, called dams.

To give the young red pandas their best shot at survival, staff at the Conservation Biology Institute aimed to make their mothers as calm and comfortable as possible. “We’ve been kind of giving mom and the babies their space,” Kordell says. They elevated the nest boxes to mirror the animals’ natural arboreal behaviors and moved the red pandas into indoor spaces with air conditioning before the weather grew too hot.

“Last year we had some challenges, so having the success that we’ve had this year has been pretty fantastic,” Kordell says.

Red pandas are globally endangered, and their range—which stretches across parts of India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and China—is under threat from habitat loss. Climate change is shifting vegetation zones in their habitat in the Himalayas, and the animals might be killed by poachers or captured for the illegal pet trade. Free-roaming dogs can also transmit diseases to wild red pandas, such as canine distemper.

“One of the biggest threats to their survival is the rapid, haphazard construction of roads in Nepal’s mid-hills,” Ang Phuri Sherpa, executive director of the nonprofit Red Panda Network, told Mongabay’s Deepak Adhikari last year. “These roads often cut through critical habitat, without any scientific assessment, fragmenting the forests red pandas rely on.”

The red pandas at the Smithsonian play two main roles in the species’ conservation, Kordell says. For one, they contribute to a “backup population” in captivity as the animals’ numbers dwindle in the wild—estimates for their population range from fewer than 10,000 to as little as 2,500. They also help educate the public about the species.

“A lot of times making a connection with an animal, even if it is just because it is so cute, might inspire people to learn more about them, learn more about their habitat and then hopefully want to help,” Kendra Verity, education department supervisor at the Cape May County Park and Zoo, told WHYY’s Rebecca Acevedo in June. “This is an animal that we do not want to go extinct.”

People seem “really excited” about the new cubs, based on the reaction to the Zoo’s social media posts announcing their births, Kordell says. And while these families are not accessible to visitors, the public will likely see more of them. “We’ll be able to hopefully continue to share photos and videos of them as they grow up.”

“I can’t wait until they’re out climbing around and perching and following mom,” she adds. “That’s usually a fun sight to see.”

Carlyn Kranking is Smithsonian magazine's associate web editor for science.