The National Zoo let us all know this morning that Mei Xiang's surviving panda cub is male. The Zoo also said that the panda cub who died Wednesday was a male. Both cubs were sired by Tian Tian through artificial insemination. Mei Xiang had been artificially inseminated twice in late April with contributions from the zoo's male panda, Tian Tian, and from a male at a Chinese research facility in Wolong. Given that she delivered on August 9, being a pregnant panda doesn't seem too bad since it seems to only last about three and a half months!
The pathologists and veterinarians believe that the smaller cub's death probably was caused by "complications associated with aspiration of food material into the cub's respiratory system resulting in the development of pneumonia."
Both the surviving panda and mother are healthy and doing well, the Zoo says. The Zoo officials said that they are watching the surviving cub as he continues to thrive - he already has gained 16% in weight!
The zoo has not decided on the baby panda's name or even when it will be named. Bao Bao, the zoo's female cub, was named 100 days after her birth. This little boy, who is getting lots of attention now, will probably make his first public appearance in January - so stay tuned! Washington is enthralled!
When the panda was born, it was pink with only a few white hairs. After a week, the distinctive black patches start to develop and a week later the black hairs start to fill in. By three weeks, the baby will start to crawl and by three months the baby will stand, walk a little, and start to have his teeth break through. By one year, his baby teeth will be gone, and by two he would be on his own in the wild!
Don't you want to include Washington in your travel plans this year? The Zoo is great, and so is the rest of the city! If you are thinking of moving to DC, be sure to give the Lise Howe Group a call at 240-401-5577 or lise@lisehowe.com. We can't wait to show you our city and all the other parts of the metro area from Frederick to Fredericksburg and points in between like Bethesda and Chevy Chase!
and if you want to watch the panda yourself, just click here for the panda cam.
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