Artificially Inseminated
This is the second time Mei Xiang has given birth. The 14 year old Giant Panda bear had given birth back in 2005 to a male panda. His name is Tai Shan. Ever since the birth of Tai Shan, they have tried 5 different times to artificially inseminate Mei Xiang with no luck. There was fear that maybe she had become infertile. The scientist at the zoo were concerned and only gave her less than a 10 percent chance of getting pregnant. Every time they artificially inseminated Mei Xiang, her body went through what is called a ‘pseudopregnancy’ which meant it was preparing for a baby. Her hormone levels would go up, but no baby was present.
Another try
They had considered getting another panda to replace Mie Xiang or the 15 year old Panda, Tian Tian. Before they actually did replace her, they gave her one more chance to reproduce. They once again artificially inseminated her, only this time, it was a success. One of the zoos workers called Smith,who has worked at the zoo for the last 4 years. The worker told Smith that they had possibly heard what they thought was a panda cub. They have distinct bird like screeching going on. She and some of the other workers got on their computers to watch the pandas through their webcam. After watching the area over the webcam, they were sure a baby had been born.
Only the size of a stick of butter
Would you believe that a baby panda, is only as big as a stick of butter when it is first born? They have no hair and are very tiny, Now that the baby has arrived, the first few days are very critical. Once it is 100 days old, they will name it as is the Chinese tradition. The scientist had given up on Mei to conceive and give them a baby. She proved them all wrong on Sunday. She now has a beautiful little cub. Mie had prepared a large nest for her baby and the staff has yet to be able to view the new cub.
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