Mei Xiang, the Washington National Zoo’s Giant panda, gave birth to twins on Sunday. But when it was time for the 11 p.m. Sunday switchover, Mei Xiang wouldn’t put down the cub she was holding – the larger of the two. The twins will be the giant panda’s third and fourth offspring if they survive.
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Mei Xiang’s first cub, Tai Shan, was born in 2005.
She also had another cub named Bao Bao, who is now two years old and living with her in Washington. Zookeepers discovered she was pregnant just three days before she gave birth. The zoo released a sonogram showing what veterinarians believe to be a developing fetus, and its director said everyone there remains “cautiously optimistic”.
The zoo is likely to keep Arun sequestered from the public to reduce stress or any other trigger for the disease – although it’s not yet certain the panda has the disease. They are swapping each cub with Mei Xiang, the momma, to allow each one to nurse, while the other is incubated to keep warm, and is bottle fed.
The zoo says after the second cub was born, keepers removed one of the cubs and moved it to an incubator.
Rosly, however said the conditions for entry would only be announced after taking into consideration the health of the cub once it could receive visitors at the Giant Panda Conservation Centre. The first born cub weighed in at just over 86 grams – about three ounces. They are also notoriously hard to breed: Female pandas only have a 24- to 72-hour fertility window each year. “#PandaStory #WeSaveSpecies.” The National Zoo is one of only four zoos in the U.S.to have pandas, which are on loan from China.
Kelly said the gender of the cubs or which of the sperm donors is the father will be determined later.
The zoo’s panda cams were overloaded by heavy traffic from those around the world wanting to watch the birth live. Some of these pandas were created through artificial insemination as part of efforts to boost the numbers of that country’s unofficial national mascot.
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Meanwhile, Rosly said it cost RM3,000 a month to care for the panda cub.
