Giant panda Mei Xiang, her new cub appear to be "very healthy," says U.S. curator

(Smithsonian's National Zoo via Xinhua)

Mei Xiang, 22, gave birth to the cub after more than three hours of labor, the seventh since she and male giant panda Tian Tian began living in the zoo in 2000.

"This is a really special thing that she was able to get pregnant and have another child at her age," said a U.S. curator.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Mei Xiang and her new cub appear to be "very healthy," Laurie Thompson, assistant curator of giant pandas with the Smithsonian's National Zoo here, told Xinhua on Saturday.

"I would say it appears that they're healthy," said Thompson, who was staying up all night with her colleagues monitoring Mei Xiang and the cub. "The cub was constantly vocalizing throughout the night. Short periods of breast, but not very long. And that's kind of what we want to see."

Mei Xiang, 22, gave birth to the cub on Friday evening after more than three hours of labor, the seventh since she and male giant panda Tian Tian began living in the zoo in 2000. Three of her cubs have survived to adulthood.

As an experienced and healthy mother, Mei Xiang was taking care of her new cub "all night long," said Thompson, adding that the giant panda team has not been able to get hands on it because they want to wait until Mei Xiang is ready to leave the cub, which usually takes place "within a week or so."

"She will go to eat, leave the den to eat, and then we can go in and retrieve the cub to do a cub exam," the curator explained.

Giant panda Mei Xiang is seen in a frame grab from a video feed at Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the United States, Aug. 21, 2020.(Smithsonian's National Zoo via Xinhua)

The new cub was quite a surprise, even for giant panda professionals, as Mei Xiang is of an advanced maternal age.

"I think we're all still a little bit in shock. I think we all were hopeful that she would have a cub but we didn't really expect it considering her age," Thompson said.

"This is a really special thing that she was able to get pregnant and have another child at her age," she added. "There's a lot to learn about that ... We get to see, you know, how an older mother interacts with a young cub."

Thompson traveled to Chengdu, China in November 2019 on a trip that sent four-year-old Bei Bei, Mei Xiang's third surviving offspring, back to the hometown of giant pandas, as per an agreement between the U.S. national zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association.

Saturday is Bei Bei's birthday, a day after that of his younger brother. And Sunday is the birthday of their sister Bao Bao, born in 2013. Mei Xiang "apparently likes this week to give birth," Thompson jokingly said.

Calling the birth "definitely some happiness," the curator also said "everybody can use a panda cub right now" to cheer him or her up "certainly with everything that's going on in the world." ■