|
 Mei Xiang, a star tourist draw, took staff by surprise on Saturday
by giving birth to twins about four-and-a-half hours apart. Giant
pandas are among the world's most endangered species and she had
been artificially inseminated.
Laurie Thompson, a giant panda biologist, said she and other staff
had monitored Mei Xiang to see if she was strong enough to pick up
the second cub on her own.
"She was really struggling. She was trying but she wasn't able to
pick up both of the cubs ... At the right moment, we were able to go
in and grab one of the cubs and take it out safely when Mei Xiang
was not really close to it," Thompson told reporters.
One cub was placed in an incubator in line with protocol when twins
are born.
 Dr. Don Neiffer, the zoo's chief veterinarian, said the first few
hours after birth were critical for the panda cubs, especially since
they have almost no fur.
"They are not able to thermo-regulate very well and they need to
constantly be receiving some calories and fuel for the furnace," he
said.
To track each cub's progress, officials are measuring and weighing
each cub as they switch them out.
Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated on April 26 and 27 with
frozen sperm from Hui Hui, a panda in China, and fresh sperm from
the National Zoo's Tian Tian. Zoo veterinarians first detected
evidence of a fetus on an ultrasound on Aug. 19.
[to top of second column] |
Mei Xiang previously has given birth to two surviving cubs, Tai Shan
in 2005 and Bao Bao in 2013. Bao Bao marked her second birthday on
Sunday.
Giant pandas have a very low reproductive rate, particularly in
captivity. Their natural home is in a few mountain ranges in central
China. There are about 1,600 giant pandas known to be living in the
wild and some 300 in captivity.
(Reporting by Reuters Television; Writing by Ian Simpson; Editing by
Andrew Roche)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
