![]() ![]() “He's probably more interested in what's for breakfast this morning.” “There's no real role for the male to play in the baby's care,” Monfort said. Giant pandas are almost entirely solitary, and in the wild it would be normal for Tian Tian to never meet his offspring. Meanwhile father Tian Tian seems blissfully oblivious, rolling around his outdoor enclosure Saturday morning. For now it is pink and hairless the distinctive black and white fur markings come later. The cub, who will not be named for its first hundred days in accordance with tradition, will remain in the den for its first few months of life. For about a week, the new mother will not leave the baby's side even to eat or drink. Mei Xiang will remain with her baby (gender still unknown) in a small indoor enclosure where she has built a modest nest. Zoo staff remain ready to intervene if something seems wrong, but Smith said Mei Xiang, who has reared three cubs to adulthood, “knows exactly what she is doing.”įor now, zoo staff are letting the new pair share some private time. “We can tell the cub is doing well from its vocalizations and the mother's behavior,” Smith said. The massive mother immediately picks up and cradles the infant, which officials say is the size of a stick of butter. is obscured, but the results become immediately obvious from the new cub's robust squealing. On camera, the actual moment of birth at around 6:35 p.m. ![]() “When we have a giant panda baby, the whole world celebrates.” “Everybody is getting bumped off,” said Deputy Director Brandie Smith, a former curator of the zoo's giant pandas, who has overseen multiple births here. When she actually gave birth Friday evening, zoo officials said they had a hard time getting into their own livestream, and they're now working to boost their capabilities. The zoo's ever-popular Panda Cam traffic has been crashing since venerable matriarch Mei Xiang's pregnancy was announced this week. “I'm pretty sure we broke the Internet last night,” said National Zoo Director Steve Monfort. Officials at the National Zoo said traffic on their livestream spiked 1,200 percent over the past week. Livestream traffic on the zoo's panda cam spiked 1,200% over the past week.At 22, Mei Xiang is the oldest panda to give birth in the U.S.The cub is Mei Xiang's fourth offspring.Giant Panda Mei Xiang gave birth to a panda cub Friday night at the National Zoo. ![]()
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