Giant Pandas are considered to be among one of the endangered species in the world. They are threatened by habitat loss with only about 1700 pandas left in the wild in China They are very hard to breed in captivity more so, because female pandas are able to conceive for only two or three days a year, leading to a very low reproduction rate but keepers at the Smithsonian National Zoo, Washington DC, only discovered that one of their star attractions, Mei Xiang was pregnant during an ultrasound scan last week.
The Smithsonian National Zoo is one of only four zoos in the US to have pandas, which are on loan from China.Mei Xiang, has two other off-springs her first cub, Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and her second cub, BaoBao, is two.
Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated with semen from the zoo’s resident male TianTian and a panda named HuiHui from Wolong, China. The information regarding the gender of the cubs and the father will be revealed later.
@NationalZoo tweeted about the birth and examinations!
1. @NationalZoo informed the world about the birth of the first cub via tweet.
Panda cub born at 5:34pm live on panda cam. Video and pix to come. #PandaStory#WeSaveSpecies
— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) August 22, 2015
2. They also confirmed the birth of a second cub via tweet and a photograph.
We can confirm a second cub was born at 10:07. It appears healthy. #PandaStorypic.twitter.com/MH0kmQ32kk
— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) <ahref=”https://twitter.com/NationalZoo/status/635292863459426304″>August 23, 2015
3. They also informed the world of the vet examination of the cubs.
First born giant panda cub vet exam. This cub is vocalizing well & appears strong. #PandaStory#WeSaveSpeciespic.twitter.com/Vc89FJp517
— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) August 23, 2015
By: Archa Dave
