Mei Xiang, the panda who gave birth to twin cubs on Saturday, has not been “a willing participant” in swapping out the cubs for nursing and care, National Zoo officials posted Tuesday in a Facebook update to fans.
Pandas typically won’t nurse twins and tend to favor the large cub, leaving the smaller one to die. To compensate, the panda team at the zoo intervened and has been alternating each cub with the mother every few hours.
That gives Mei Xiang a chance to nurse and bond with a cub, while the veterinarians at the zoo in D.C. check the other cub.
Unfortunately, as of 2 p.m. Monday, Mei Xiang did not want to swap the larger cub in her possession for the smaller cub, zoo officials said.
“Our observations of the larger cub from yesterday indicate it is doing well, and we’re confident Mei Xiang is taking very good care of it,” they said in the post.
That leaves the zoo keepers and veterinarians to feed the smaller cub.
“The little cub’s behaviors are good. The team is concerned about its fluctuating weight since the cub is now more than 48 hours old. The most important thing for the panda team is to help the cub get enough fluids and nutrients. To accomplish this, they are bottle and tube feeding the cub,” the Facebook post said. “The cub has shown some signs of regurgitation which can lead to aspiration in such a tiny creature. To be prudent, the veterinarians are administering antibiotics to prevent possible infection.”
The larger cub weighed 138 grams, just under five ounces, at birth and the smaller cub, 86 grams, just over three ounces. By contrast, Mei Xiang weighs 238 pounds.
Zoo officials maintain that the panda cubs are still “in a high-risk period.”
“The entire Zoo community appreciates the outpouring of well-wishes from around the world,” they said.
There was one outpouring of “boos” though Tuesday, from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which condemned what it called “the forcible removal of the beloved panda twins, one at a time, from their devoted mother.”
In a statement, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk called the National Zoo “an institution with a long history of manipulating animals in research, splitting apart bonded animals to send to other institutions for exhibit, transferring animals under shady circumstances, and artificially inseminating pandas.”
“Removing babies as if they’re nothing more than future exhibits to be preserved and treating the mother panda as simply a baby-making machine while disrespecting and disregarding her maternal instincts as well as fighting with her to remove her infants in the name of ’animal science’ is unethical, unthinkable, and wrong,” she said.
On Sunday, Bao Bao, Mei Xiang’s daughter and big sister to the twin cubs, celebrated her second birthday.
The zoo tweeted a photo Sunday of Bao Bao enjoying a “fruitsicle cake” in the shape of a numeral 2, made with honey, apples, carrots and bamboo.
• Maria Stainer can be reached at mstainer@washingtontimes.com.
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