What you need to know before visiting panda cub Bei Bei

Panda cub Bei Bei is set to meet the public for the very first time.

The first ladies traveled to the Panda House “to commemorate over four decades of scientific collaboration between the United States and China around giant panda conservation”, the White House said in a statement.

The panda house will be open 9 a.m.to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Bei Bei was born on August 22 to the zoo’s Mei Xiang, one of the top tourist draws in the U.S. capital.

Flash photography and video with handheld devices is permitted inside the panda house.

Large crowds are expected, and the zoo is warning fans that cub behavior is unpredictable, so sightings can’t be guaranteed.

Laurie Thompson, the zoo’s panda biologist, carried Bei Bei from a small enclosure to the roomier Panda House, which is filled with bamboo and toys, early on Saturday for public viewing.

The first, Tai Shan, was born in July 2005 and he now lives in China.

A twin cub born the same day as Bei Bei died soon after birth.