Check out this new video of twin panda cubs born at the National Zoo over the weekend to giant panda Mei Xiang!
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“The panda team began preparing for a birth when they saw Mei Xiang’s water break at 4:32 p.m., and she was already having contractions”.
Mei Xiang gave birth to Tai Shan, her first cub, in 2005, and her second cub, Bao Bao, turns 2 on Sunday.
Greater Vancouver Zoo general manager Jody Henderson defended her facility Sunday after news that another animal had died at the Langley attraction.
The cubs are Mei Xiang’s third and fourth. “At the right moment, we were able to go in and grab one of the cubs and take it out safely when Mei Xiang was not really close to it”, Thompson told reporters. The zoo released a sonogram showing what veterinarians believe to be a developing fetus, and its director said everyone there remains “cautiously optimistic”.
So far, both cubs appear healthy and keepers are optimistic they’ll both survive.
The zoo says after the second cub was born, keepers removed one of the cubs and moved it to an incubator. Pink, hairless and blind, newborn cubs weigh three to five ounces and are about the size of a stick of butter.
While pandas give birth to twins approximately 50 percent of the time, it’s only happened three times before in the U.S. After Bao Bao was born in 2013, it was about 5 months before she made her public debut. The new cubs’ sex won’t be determined until a later date, and the zoo also isn’t sure whether there will be a contest held to name them.
Rakesh, one of four male red pandas at the B.C. zoo, died unexpectedly last Monday. Pandas can also experience “pseudopregnancy”, in which female pandas exhibit the standard signs of being pregnant-they build nests, sleep more, eat less-but are not actually pregnant.
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Scientists in China have learned much more about panda breeding since then. In April, Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated with semen collected from a giant panda named Hui Hui, who lives in a conservation center in Wolong, China, and another sample from Tian Tian.
