National Zoo’s Pandas Please All the People

Talk about your tough houses: Even before the show started, the suits assembled and demanded world peace and insisted on saving the planet.

No worries. The speeches over, Tian Tian and Mei Xiang got down to their globe-defending duties Wednesday, executing a rollover or two and wiggling their ears to a chorus of appreciative “Ahhhhhhs.”

“They are two VIPs--Very Important Pandas--who have brought our great nations closer,” said Liu Xiaoming, the deputy chief of mission at the Chinese Embassy.

Wednesday was coming-out day for the two pandas, ending a month’s quarantine after their arrival from China.

Some visitors had waited four hours to see the pair--6-year-old Sara Blackenstoe, outfitted in a panda suit, was first in--but they had to wait 30 minutes more to get the speeches out of the way.

Panda priority No. 1, each speaker suggested, was warming ties between the two countries.

National Zoo Director Lucy Spelman emphasized their ecological mission, saying the zoo hoped the two would bolster support for preserving other endangered species.

Much of the $1-million-a-year fee the zoo is paying China for the pandas will be spent on U.S.-supervised preservation training for Chinese wildlife officials, Spelman said.

Mei Xiang (pronounced may-SHONG and meaning “beautiful fragrance”) was first out, eyeing the crowd for a few seconds, then scurrying back into her enclosure.

Then Tian Tian (“more and more”) took the lead, strolling to a rock outcrop facing the crowd.

He rolled over a few times, sat up and splayed his legs like any other working stiff about to take a lunch break. Then he reached out and grabbed a few bamboo branches, stuffing them into his mouth.