National Zoo panda cub Bao Bao back with mom after 24 hours up tree

WASHINGTON — The National Zoo’s panda cub Bao Bao is back with her mom after spending more than 24 hours up a tree, where she went after being startled by a tool zookeepers use to contain animals.

Bao Bao climbed the tree Tuesday afternoon after touching a “hot wire” used for animal containment. She came down late Wednesday.

Members of the public — watching live video of the zoo’s pandas online at Watch Bao Bao: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/webcams/giant-panda.cfm — posted worried inquiries on the zooís Facebook page when they saw that Bao Bao was in a tree overnight and still there Wednesday. But the zoo said Bao Bao was “perfectly fine.”

Bao Bao turned 1 in August. She’s only the second panda born at the zoo to survive to her first birthday.