A young panda cub in an indoor setting with a green ball and bamboo leaves around it. 0:55
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Baby panda will not give up his green ball

Xiao Liwu is a few months old, lives at the San Diego Zoo and has one favorite toy, a green ball. His keepers would like to borrow it for a minute. more

The ball is the center of his world. He rolls it, climbs on it and drapes himself over it, and when a gloved hand reaches in to check him over, he holds on tight.

A baby panda holds a green ball while a gloved hand rests on top of his head. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
A keeper's gloved hand checks the cub over while he holds on to his green ball.

Today is a routine health check, the kind his keepers do often. One of them tries to ease the ball out of his arms so they can take his measurements. Xiao Liwu grabs it straight back and clutches it close, all four chubby paws wrapped around it.

The keepers try a trade. They offer him a log to play with, a perfectly good log, and he would rather keep the ball. Out comes the measuring tape anyway, and the cub lies on his green mat beside it while the checkup carries on around him.

A young panda cub lies on a green mat next to a measuring tape and a person's hand. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
The keepers bring out a measuring tape while he lies on his mat.

There's a lot of rolling around. The keepers check what they can between rolls, and his mind stays on the ball.

A young panda cub in an indoor setting with a green ball and bamboo leaves around it. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Xiao Liwu is a few months old, lives at the San Diego Zoo and has one favorite toy, a green ball.

In the end Xiao Liwu gets his way, and the ball is his again. The keepers seem to have what they came for, so it's back to playtime.

He sits up when they finish and looks straight ahead, black and white and very round. He looks like a cub who knows he has won.

A young panda cub sits upright and looks straight ahead, with dark eyes and black-and-white fur. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Checkup over, Xiao Liwu sits up with his ball back and his point made.

He's only a few months old, but he's already clear about one thing. The green ball is his. The checkup can fit in around it.