--- title: Rusty The Red Panda Is Now a Dad at National Zoo description: Rusty the red panda at the National Zoo is now a father of three. canonical: https://time.com/2950973/red-panda-zoo-dad/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-02T17:14:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:11:20.661Z og:title: WATCH: Rusty The National Zoo's Red Panda Is Now a Dad and These Are His Babies og:description: The most adorable video you will watch og:url: https://time.com/2950973/red-panda-zoo-dad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: WATCH: Rusty The National Zoo's Red Panda Is Now a Dad and These Are His Babies twitter:description: The most adorable video you will watch twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Red Panda That Escaped From The National Zoo Is Now a Dad  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jul 2, 2014 5:14 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jul 2, 2014 5:14 PM UTC The Smithsonian National Zoo announced Wednesday that its red pandas Rusty and Shama have given birth to three cubs — and they have already [weaseled](http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Red%5FPanda) their way into our hearts. The [video above](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMRdZn5IdMk) shows Shama cuddling with her babies after giving birth on June 26. “All four red panda pairs at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., successfully bred and had cubs this year,” according to the [National Zoo’s website](http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AsiaTrail/RedPanda/). “Of the 10 cubs, more born at SCBI than any other year, seven have survived.” You may remember Rusty as the little dude that literally had zoo officials seeing red when he [escaped](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2041628%5F2041646%5F2146232,00.html) from his enclosure in the Asia Trail section last summer. Rusty was later found in Adams Morgan, a D.C. neighborhood known for its nightlife. Time will only tell whether the cubs will inherit their father’s penchant for party animal antics. (h/t [_DCist_](http://dcist.com/2014/07/photos%5Frusty%5Fthe%5Fred%5Fpanda%5Fbecomes.php#photo-1)) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2950973/red-panda-zoo-dad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2950973/red-panda-zoo-dad/"},"headline":"Red Panda That Escaped From The National Zoo Is Now a Dad","datePublished":"2014-07-02T17:14:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:11:20.661Z","description":"The mother, Shama, looks especially bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in this video","url":"https://time.com/2950973/red-panda-zoo-dad/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2950973/red-panda-zoo-dad/","name":"Red Panda That Escaped From The National Zoo Is Now a Dad"}}]}] ```