Susan L Ruth
WASHINGTON, July 28, 2013 ??Zoo keepers at the National Zoo do not know if the female giant panda, Mei Xiang is pregnant or not, but she seems to think that she is.
Zoo keepers say, ?She is nest building ?She is a little less active than normally the rest of the year, so we are hopeful.?
Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated twice in March 2013. If a pregnancy resulted from those efforts, a baby will be born in 40 to 55 days or around the middle of September 2013.
If Mei Xiang gives birth to a cub in the fall, a paternity test will be done to determine which of the two giant male panda donors the father is.?
The first procedure was done using semen from the National Zoo?s panda Tian Tian, for the second, a mixture of semen from Tian Tian and Sand Diego Zoo?s male Gao Gao.
Last year, Mei Xiang surprised panda-watchers by giving birth to a female cub. That cub died after six days from liver and lung malformations after her surprise birth.
The 2012 cub was a surprise because it had not been clear whether or not Mei Xiang was still fertile.
As unfortunate as the death of that cub was, it contributed to knowledge of newborn pandas that will help the next cub if and when it is born.
The zoo reported that Mei Xiang has had a secondary rise in urinary progesterone this weekend. But even the rise in hormone readings could indicate a false pregnancy.
The reason it is so hard to tell for sure is that giant panda fetuses do not begin development until the very last weeks of gestation. Therefore, zookeepers will not know anything definitive until September.
Regular ultrasounds are being performed to monitor any changes in the giant panda?s uterus even though it is too early to detect an actual fetus yet.
The ultrasounds are performed, without any drugs or sedation, as long as Mei Xiang allows them which are fairly often since she receives a constant stream of honey water as a reward during the process.
Giant panda cubs are usually born in August or September and are the size of a stick of butter. A cub has pink skin, a thin coat of white fur, a long tail, and no teeth. Its eyes are closed. By the end of the first month, the baby panda has all of its spots. Its eyes open around 4-6 weeks. A baby panda is almost 2 months old before it is the size of an average human newborn baby. A baby is almost 2 years old when it leaves its mother
A panda mother is 900 times bigger than her newborn cub, which weighs less than 5 oz. In comparison, an 8-pound human baby would have a mother that weighed 7,200 pounds.
This dramatic size discrepancy is part of the reason it is impossible to detect a fetus on an ultrasound until shortly before the actual birth.
Not wanting to take any chances with this possible pregnancy, the area of the David M. Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat that is closest to Mei Xiang?s den is going to be closed off soon in order to provide extra peace during the end of this pregnancy or pseudo-pregnancy.
Mei Xiang has had five false pregnancies over the years, where she has acted pregnant but actually was not.
Visitors to the National Zoo will still be able to see Tian Tian out in his yard and in his den as usual and will see Mei Xiang out in her yard when she chooses to go out or on the panda cam at the National Zoo?s website.
The giant panda lives in the mountain regions of central
Although the dragon is
There is a Chinese legend explaining how the giant panda formed its distinctive black and white markings. The story says that the panda was once an all-white bear. When a small girl tried to save a panda cub from being attacked by a leopard, the leopard killed the girl instead. Pandas came to her funeral wearing armbands of black ashes. As they wiped their eyes, hugged each other, and covered the ears, they smudged the black ashes.
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are on loan to the National Zoo in
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