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Some joy in a dark time: National Zoo announces that female giant panda may be pregnant
The National Zoo said Friday that its female giant panda, Mei Xiang, appears to be pregnant.
Zoo officials said a birth could come as early as this weekend, and the zoo went to its 24-hour panda cam Friday.
An ultrasound Friday morning clearly showed what looked like a fetus, the zoo said.
The panda could always have a stillbirth, or the fetus could be resorbed, said spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson. But zoo veterinarians were extremely hopeful.
“We are totally surprised,” she said. “Reproductively speaking, this is like a miracle.”
The zoo has not has a giant panda cub in five years — since its departed male, Bei Bei, was born in 2015. (He was moved to China last year.) Mei is 22 and near the end of her reproductive life, the zoo has said. If she gives birth, she would be the oldest giant panda in the U.S. to do so, Baker-Masson said.
Zoo officials said a birth could come as early as this weekend, and the zoo went to its 24-hour panda cam Friday.
An ultrasound Friday morning clearly showed what looked like a fetus, the zoo said.
The panda could always have a stillbirth, or the fetus could be resorbed, said spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson. But zoo veterinarians were extremely hopeful.
“We are totally surprised,” she said. “Reproductively speaking, this is like a miracle.”
The zoo has not has a giant panda cub in five years — since its departed male, Bei Bei, was born in 2015. (He was moved to China last year.) Mei is 22 and near the end of her reproductive life, the zoo has said. If she gives birth, she would be the oldest giant panda in the U.S. to do so, Baker-Masson said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/zoo-panda-pregnant/2020/08/14/8cf05a80-de4b-11ea-809e-b8be57ba616e_story.html
