Mei Xiang, Giant Panda giving birth, steals the headlines
The National Zoo’s giant panda, Mei Xiang, gave birth to a panda cub approximately 10:45 pm Sunday night and zoo official are waiting for their first “real” glimpse of the cub since it’s being protected by its mother.
Photo Superm401
This is the second cub for Mei Xiang.
“Mei Xiang is behaving exactly the same way she did when Tai Shan was born,” chief veterinarian Suzan Murray said in a statement.
“She is cradling her cub closely, and she looks so tired, but every time she tries to lay down, the cub squawks and she sits right up and cradles the cub more closely. She is the poster child for a perfect panda mom,” she said.
Mei was artificially inseminated twice in April using sperm from a male named Tian Tian, which was collected in 2005.
“One factor that may have helped Mei Xiang conceive a cub was her return to a more normal estrus cycle,” the zoo said.
Mei went into estrus this year in late April. From 2009 to 2011, she went into estrus in January.
While the US Embassy attacks, violence throughout the Middle East and a heated political race would normally capture the attention of the Washington media, all eyes appear to fixed on Mei Xiang and her cub.
[…] giant panda cub born to much excitement and media frenzy at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., last weekend was […]