--- title: Panda in Bubble Bath at National Zoo description: Tian Tian the panda enjoys a bubble bath at the Smithsonian National Zoo. canonical: https://time.com/4272091/panda-bath-national-zoo/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-25T16:03:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:09.182Z og:title: Watch a Panda Take a Bubble Bath at the National Zoo og:description: Tian Tian the panda enjoys a bubble bath at the Smithsonian National Zoo. og:url: https://time.com/4272091/panda-bath-national-zoo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt106ce9a59d254310/69888c812dce01249f9e85cd/tian-tian-panda-bear-takes-a-bath.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-CHINA-PANDA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch a Panda Take a Bubble Bath at the National Zoo twitter:description: Tian Tian the panda enjoys a bubble bath at the Smithsonian National Zoo. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt106ce9a59d254310/69888c812dce01249f9e85cd/tian-tian-panda-bear-takes-a-bath.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch a Panda Take a Bubble Bath at the National Zoo  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 25, 2016 4:03 PM UTC  Giant Panda Tian Tian rests at the Giant Panda exhibit at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC. on Sep. 25, 2015. Giant Panda Tian Tian rests at the Giant Panda exhibit at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC. on Sep. 25, 2015.Molly Riley—AFP/Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 25, 2016 4:03 PM UTC The Smithsonian’s National Zoo published footage of its male panda taking a bubble bath on Thursday. Tian Tian — whose name means “more and more” — can’t seem to get enough of the suds, rubbing them all over his ears in a tub that seems a small for the 264-pound animal. As the zoo explains in a description of the video on YouTube, “Pandas do not bathe regularly in the wild, but when Tian Tian is in rut—meaning he’s exhibiting behaviors associated with breeding season—he especially likes to play in water.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4272091/panda-bath-national-zoo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4272091/panda-bath-national-zoo/"},"headline":"Watch a Panda Take a Bubble Bath at the National Zoo","datePublished":"2016-03-25T16:03:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:09.182Z","description":"Spring cleaning","url":"https://time.com/4272091/panda-bath-national-zoo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt106ce9a59d254310/69888c812dce01249f9e85cd/tian-tian-panda-bear-takes-a-bath.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt106ce9a59d254310/69888c812dce01249f9e85cd/tian-tian-panda-bear-takes-a-bath.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-CHINA-PANDA","caption":"Giant Panda Tian Tian rests at the Giant Panda exhibit at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC. on Sep. 25, 2015.","creditText":"Molly Riley—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/4272091/panda-bath-national-zoo/","name":"Watch a Panda Take a Bubble Bath at the National Zoo"}}]}] ```