(MENAFN- Saudi Press Agency) Washington Dhu-AlQa'dah 12 1436 August 27 2015 SPA -- The smaller of two panada cubs born over the
weekend at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington died Wednesday
the zoo said according to dpa.
The cub died Wednesday afternoon after zoo official found that it had
become weaker despite spending time with its mother giant panda Mei
Xiang overnight.
Mei Xiang gave birth to two cubs hours apart on Saturday at the
zoo.
"We were prepared for twins" veterinarian Don Neiffer said at a
press conference.
Female pandas often give birth to twins and frequently reject the
smaller cub. Zoo officials had been swapping the cubs back and forth
from an incubator to give each time with their mother.
Neiffer detailed the efforts to regularly swap the cubs but said the
smaller cub had failed to gain weight.
There had been no signs that the mother was concerned about the
infant before it died and the mother had tried to care for both
cubs he said.
"Things turned and the cub's condition declined and despite extreme
efforts by our dedicated staff we weren't able to change things" he
said.
"The larger cub appears to be strong robust behaving normally and
is with mother Mei Xiang" the zoo said in a statement.
Mei Xiang 17 was artificially inseminated with sperm from two male
pandas one living in China and one living at the National Zoo.
The paternity and gender of the cubs was not yet known.
The cubs were the fifth and sixth for Mei Xiang. Two of her earlier
cubs also did not survive.
It will likely be four months before the surviving cub will venture
from the den giving visitors a glimpse of the zoo's newest panda.
The cub like siblings Bao Bao and Tai Shan will spend four years at
the zoo before being returned to China.
--SPA
01:11 LOCAL TIME 22:11 GMT
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