Bamboo-zled: Panda surprises with birth of twins

Yahoo – AFP, 23 Aug 2015

Washington (AFP) - A rare giant panda called Mei Xiang gave birth to twin cubs at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, apparently surprising delighted zoo officials who had expected just one baby.

A first tiny cub -- pink, hairless and only about the size of an adult mouse -- was born at 5:35 pm (2135 GMT) and Mei Xiang reacted by tenderly picking up the cub.

This image released August 22, 2015

courtesy of the Smithsonian's National

Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute 

shows giant panda Mei Xiang in labor 

(AFP Photo)

Immediately after the zoo announced the birth, the live video feed from her straw-lined enclosure appeared to have crashed, likely due to a high volume of viewers, the zoo said.

"All of us are thrilled that Mei Xiang has given birth. The cub is vulnerable at this tiny size but we know Mei is an excellent mother," zoo director Dennis Kelly said.

Pandas are famously challenging to breed in captivity, but just when conservationists thought they had heard all the good news, the zoo tweeted just a few hours later: "We can confirm a second cub was born at 10:07. It appears healthy. #PandaStory."

The birth of the twins appeared to be a surprise because the zoo's Twitter feed had only previously referred to the expected birth of a single cub.

The mother panda's care team had begun preparing after they saw Mei Xiang's water break about an hour before the first birth. They hope to carry out neonatal exams in the coming days and won't know the cubs' sex until a later date.

Paternity tests

Mei Xiang ("beautiful fragrance"), 17, was artificially inseminated in April with frozen semen from a male giant panda named Hui Hui that resides at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province.

Giant Panda Mei Xiang, who gave birth to twin cubs at the Smithsonian National

 Zoo in Washington, is shown in a file picture from last year keeping a watchful eye

on her earlier cub Bao Bao (R) (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)

She was also inseminated with fresh semen from the zoo's male giant panda Tian Tian. DNA tests will establish which is the father.

Mei Xiang had a cub in 2005 which was sent to China, and another, Bao Bao is now two years old and lives with her in Washington.

But she also lost at least two other cubs, one that was stillborn in 2013 and another that lived just six days in 2012.

This year, Mei Xiang exhibited signs of pregnancy in July that included sleeping more, eating less, building a nest and spending more time in her den.

The zoo said Mei Xiang will spend almost all her time in her den for the next two weeks. The enclosure will be closed to provide quiet, though online "panda cams" provide a video stream of the creatures.

Mei Xiang eats a bamboo breakfast January 6, 2014, inside her glass enclosure

at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, DC (AFP Photo/Paul J. Richards)

On Tuesday, Malaysia announced that a giant panda at its National Zoo, Liang Liang, had given birth. The newborn's sex has yet to be determined.

There are fewer than 2,000 pandas now left in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund, as their habitats have been ravaged by development.

Roads and railways cut through the bamboo forests they depend upon in China's Yangtze Basin, their primary habitat.

Pandas rely on bamboo and eat almost nothing else. Given their low birthrate, captive breeding programs are key to ensuring their survival.

This image released August 23, 2015 courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Zoo shows
 the second of two giant panda cubs being examined by veterinarians (AFP Photo)

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