26/08/2013 13:40
Giant panda Mei Xiang gives birth to stillborn 2nd cub
A day after a jubilant first delivery, giant panda Mei Xiang gave birth to a second cub Saturday night, but it was stillborn. CNN reported.
Washington's celebrity panda gave birth to the first cub Friday, to the excitement of hordes of fans watching it on public panda cams.
The cub, about the size of a stick of butter, appeared to be doing well. So was its mom, who was cradling it in her den at the Smithsonian's National Zoo.
"It is robust, healthy and fully formed," the zoo said in a Twitter post Sunday after the cub's first neonatal exam.
After the first cub's delivery, zoo officials said there was a 50% chance of a twin being born by Saturday.
But the zoo's second baby watch did not end so well. Mei Xiang's second cub arrived at 7:29 p.m. Saturday.
She groomed it for 17 minutes before it fell onto the floor of the den, said Pamela Baker-Masson, a spokeswoman for the zoo.
"It lay motionless and made no sound. Throughout, staff could see it visually and hear the first cub squealing, and Mei never set it down," she said in a statement.
After zoo staff used a device to grab the motionless cub, they realized it had developmental abnormalities and wasn't fully formed.
"It was never alive. A necropsy is under way, and the zoo will provide additional information tomorrow," she said.