Photo Journal: Drooling over Xiang Xiang

Giant panda cub Xiang Xiang dribbles as she snoozes in a timber structure at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo's Taito Ward on March 11, 2019. The 21-month-old female cub started husbandry training to learn how to properly look after her health in February. The training proceeded smoothly and she learned to touch a stick with her nose extended across the fence by a zookeeper and to hold on to a door with good posture, according to the facility. Xiang Xiang weighed 49.8 kilograms as of March 5, some 4.8 kilograms more than the previous month. Due to her heaviness, it has become difficult for zookeepers to lift her and to take blood samples.

(Japanese original by Kentaro Mori, City News Department)