In addition to Bao Bao, Mei Xiang and the new cubs, the zoo is also home to an adult male panda named Tian Tian. The zoo said it would release more pictures and video soon. Mei Xiang also had a stillborn cub in 2013, and in 2012, she gave birth to a cub that died six days after it was born because its lungs weren’t fully developed.
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The sex of the cubs is not yet known. One of the cubs has been taken by specialists and placed in an incubator, and “it appears to be in good health”, the statement said. Although the cubs appear healthy, zoo officials note that this is crucial time for their survival.
An artificially inseminated panda surprised zoo officials in the U.S. on Saturday by giving birth to twins, over four hours apart.
“They are not able to thermo-regulate very well and they need to constantly be receiving some calories and fuel for the furnace”, he said.
Neiffer said zoo staff will leave the mother and her cubs alone for as long as possible unless there are signs of a problem. Keepers have heard it squeal and grunt. Bao Bao got a few months to herself before she made a public debut. However, the website’s panda cam is having issues because of all the people trying to watch.
The zoo announced around 2:30 p.m. that it believed Mei Xiang was in labor and later posted on Twitter that a cub had been born at 5:34.
Kelly said the gender of the cubs or which of the sperm donors is the father will be determined later.
The zoo’s first pandas, Ling Ling, a female, and Hsing Hsing, a male, arrived at the zoo in 1972, one of the fruits of President Richard Nixon’s peacemaking visit to China. The National Zoo’s “Panda team” of veterinarians, zookeepers, and scientists will now follow a special protocol for rearing the twins, alternating the individual cubs between being cared for by their mother and by zoo personnel using an incubator.
Both Tai Shan and Bao Bao were born as the result of artificial insemination.
Giant pandas are one of the most endangered species in the world and are notoriously hard to breed in captivity.
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So far, the zoo’s experts have opted not to feed the cubs a dietary supplement, but are prepared to do so if either of them begin to lose weight. Her second cub, Bao Bao, turns 2-years-old on Sunday.
