“A cute giant panda is born!”: Mei Xiang, the female giant panda at the Washington Zoo gave birth to a baby on Friday, four years after her last pregnancy, officials said.
“We are delighted to announce that Mei Xiang gave birth at 6:35 p.m. and is taking care of her newborn baby with attention,” tweeted Smithsonian’s National Zoo, adding that the mother was breastfeeding and “cuddling” her baby. .
Fans of the animal were able to follow her birth live thanks to a “panda cam”, accessible on the website of the zoo, which films her 24 hours a day.
Mei Xiang, 22, was artificially inseminated on March 22 with the frozen semen of male Tian Tian, also a resident of the zoo and who will turn 23 at the end of the month, according to the establishment.
Since their arrival in 2000, Mei Xiang has already had three surviving babies: two males – Tai Shan in 2005 and Bei Bei in 2015 – and a female, Bao Bao, in 2013.
The three pandas returned to China on their fourth birthday, under a partnership contract with the Chinese conservation center. He also plans the return to China of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian next December.
The US-Chinese agreement also provides for the payment of $ 500,000 per year to the National Zoo to support conservation efforts in China of this species classified as “vulnerable”.
Fewer than 2,000 giant pandas still live in their natural habitat in central China, while another 600 live in zoos and breeding centers around the world, according to the Washington Zoo.
Possessing a genetic heritage similar to that of the bear, the panda feeds exclusively on bamboo. It weighs around a hundred kilograms on average and measures up to six feet. Its particularity is to have six fingers and its name literally means “cat-bear”.
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