Staying Fit
Melynda Wilcox feels a sense of awe watching giant panda Mei Xiang cradle her tiny new cub, born the size of a stick of butter, in her broad black paws.
By tuning into the Smithsonian's National Zoo giant panda cam. Wilcox, 56, gets a front-row seat as Mei Xiang snuggles the baby panda, nurses, and even leaves the baby squirming in the hay for a few moments,
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"I just love watching her,” says Wilcox. “She is so amazing with that tiny, little thing."
Wilcox regularly took her panda-obsessed daughters, who just graduated from college, to visit Mei Xiang throughout their childhoods. For the past couple of weeks, Wilcox has kept a tab of the panda cam livestream open on her computer, so she can check on the mother and baby throughout the day.
"Because of the pandemic, we're all grasping for something that shows emotion and the connection between two living beings,” Wilcox says. “We're missing so much of that in our own lives."