Washington DC’s unofficial first couple opened inaugural festivities yesterday by mating early. The National Zoo’s beloved pair of pandas typically go at it sometime in March, but the anticipation of a new president and the surge in onlookers offered a good excuse to break with tradition. Startled by the loud guttural shrieking, crowds soon gathered at the panda enclosure around noon on Thursday to share the joy. After two and a half hours, zookeepers separated the pair, “in order to give Mei a break,” reported one eyewitness. In a display of separation anxiety, the male Tian “ran up and down the fence like a puppy,” while Mei sat ponderously on a rock and enjoyed a post-coital apple. NSFW video (no, really!) after the jump.