Giant panda cub born at Washington's National Zoo dies
BEN NUCKOLS
AP September 24, 20122:29AM
Mei Xiang, the female giant panda at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington whose cub has died. Source: AP
A GIANT panda cub born a week ago at the National Zoo in Washington has died and it was not immediately known why the animal died, zoo officials said.
Zoo officials say the cub was found dead on Sunday morning after panda keepers heard sounds of distress from its mother, Mei Xiang.
Staffers were able to retrieve the cub about an hour later. The cause of death is unknown. The cub appeared to be in good condition, and there were no outward signs of trauma or infection.
The cub had been a surprise at the zoo. Fourteen-year-old Mei Xiang had five failed pregnancies before giving birth.
Panda cubs are born about the size of a stick of butter and are delicate infants. Panda mothers are about 1000 times heavier than their cubs, which are born with their eyes closed. The delicate cubs have died in the past when accidentally crushed by mum. That happened in two different zoos in China in 2009 and 2010 when mothers killed their young while attempting to nurse.
The zoo's first panda couple, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, arrived from China in 1972 and had five cubs during the 1980s, but none lived more than a few days. One of the cubs was stillborn, two others died of pneumonia within a day, another died from lack of oxygen after birth, and the final cub died of an infection after four days.
Panda experts have said the first weeks of life are critical for the panda cubs as mothers have to make sure they stay warm and get enough to eat.
"It's kind of a nerve-racking period for the folks that are monitoring mom and cub," Rebecca Snyder, the curator of mammals at Atlanta's zoo, said last week. Atlanta is one of only two other American zoos to have had cubs.
Atlanta has had three cubs, and the San Diego zoo has had six, including a cub born this year. A panda couple in Memphis has yet to have a cub, despite several tries. No other US zoos have pandas.
The cub had not yet been named in accordance with Chinese tradition - it was to receive a name after 100 days on December 24. Had the cub survived until then, it would have been roughly the size of a loaf of bread and weighed around 4.5kg.
