Butterstick Ventures Outside

At the tender age of five months, the National Zoo's panda cub on Thursday ventured into the outside world for the first time. With his mom looking on, Tai Shan took his first steps outside his indoor habitat, where he walked along the side fences and the back wall, then summoned up the courage to go to the center of the yard, where mother Mei Xiang was munching bamboo.

Tai Shan eventually spent two hours in the morning chill, climbing on some fallen tree limbs and following his mother around. All the while, his dad, Tian Tian, was fast asleep in the outside exhibit next door, the zoo said in a statement.