Tian Tian [tee-YEN tee-YEN], the male panda, and his mate, Mei Xiang [may SHONG] are doing well in Washington. They became parents nine months ago.
On July ninth, Mei Xiang gave birth to a male cub, Tai Shan [tie SHAHN]. The baby weighed only one hundred grams at birth. But he has grown a lot. He now weighs about eighteen kilograms.
The panda cub is very popular. In December, zoo officials began to let the public see him. Almost four hundred thousand people have visited the zoo to see him. Millions of other people have watched his activities on the National Zoo’s Internet Web site.
Tai Shan is fun to watch. He likes to roll around, climb trees and hang upside down. He drinks milk from his mother. He plays with her. His father, however, stays in a separate area. Male pandas do not take much interest in their young.
The pandas’ areas at the zoo were designed especially for them. Their two outdoor areas have grass and huge rock caves. The cave structures are cooled to protect the pandas from the heat in the summer. An expanded Giant Panda Habitat with more activities will open this autumn.
Tai Shan’s parents came to the United States in two thousand. China lent them to the United States for ten years in exchange for ten million dollars. The money helps support programs in China to save giant pandas in the wild.
The birth of Tai Shan resulted from artificial insemination. Reproductive material from Tian Tian was placed in Mei Xiang’s body in March of last year. It took place during the two or three days each year that a female panda can become pregnant. This short fertile period is one of the reasons why giant pandas are in danger of disappearing from Earth.
Tai Shan will be sent to live in China when he is two years old. When that time comes, many Americans will be very sad.
