Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
UPDATE 7 p.m.
(WMAL) – Washingtonians are welcoming the National Zoo’s first newborn giant panda cub in five years.
“We’re overjoyed to share that Mei Xiang gave birth at 6:35 p.m. and is caring for her newborn attentively,” the National Zoo Tweeted Friday night.
As soon as she had the cub, Mei Xiang picked it up and started cradling it and caring for it, according to a press release from the zoo.
A neonatal exam will be done when zookeepers are able to get the cub, which the press release said may not be for a few days days.
There won’t be a gender reveal party yet. They don’t know if the cub is a boy or girl.
You probably won’t be able to see the cub in person until the end of the year after its had all of its vaccines according to zoo spokesperson Pamela Baker-Masson. Until then, you can watch mom and baby on the zoo’s panda cam.
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – All eyes are on the giant panda house at the Smithsonian National Zoo as giant panda Mei Xiang prepares to give birth to a cub for the first time in five years.
“We think it’s coming. We know it’s imminent. It should be very very imminent, but like everybody else we’re just tuned into the panda cam and watching her,” said National Zoo spokesperson Pamela Baker-Masson.
If you tune into the panda cam, Baker-Masson said you’ll see Mei Xiang doing all of the things she has done before giving birth in the past including staying mostly in her den, licking her body and acting restless. Hormone levels also show the time is near, according to Baker-Masson.
So many people watched the panda cam Friday that Baker-Masson said it’s overloaded with panda fans waiting to see the birth of Washington’s latest panda cub.
“Right now viewership on our panda cam is up over 1,000% if you can believe that,” Baker-Masson said Friday morning.
The zoo’s head veterinarian, Dr. Don Neiffer, discovered Mei Xiang was pregnant last Friday during an ultrasound. Baker-Masson said another one done Monday showed a well-formed viable fetus.
Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated March 22.
Mei Xiang last gave birth Aug. 22, 2015 when she had Bei Bei and another cub who didn’t survive long after it was born. Bao Bao was born in 2013, and Tai Shan was born in 2005.
Copyright 2020 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. PHOTO: panda cam screen shot
