Animals Evolved

Two pandas, Mei Xiang (female panda) and Tian Tian (male panda), at the National Zoo in Washington DC attempted to mate.  Panda mating emphasizes on timing, and panda only made one day in a year.

The two pandas attempted to mate on Saturday night.  The two pandas were observed and later determined that the mating was not successful.  Both pandas were then anesthetized so that semen could be removed from Tian Tian and artificially inseminated Mei Xiang.  The zoo had tried to conduct artificial insemination last year but the attempt was not successful.  Mei Xiang and Tian Tian were successfully inseminated artificially in and gave birth to a cub, Tai Shan, in 2005.

Source: msnbc

In Kung Fu Panda, the father of Po (the panda) is a duck.  However in real life there is a house cat adopts a baby red panda abandoned by its mother.  The house cat was belonged to a zookeeper.  The cub was nursed along with other kittens.

On June 30, the panda’s mother rejected two of her cubs after they were born.  The pandas were initially kept in an incubator.  When a keeper’s cat gave birth to four kittens, the zoo decided to let the pandas join the other kittens.  However one of the panda died as it was too weak.

The size of the surviving panda is also an issue, and it is still smaller than the kittens that were born later than it.  It will only be slightly larger than a cat when it survived to be an adult.

Before the panda start eating bamboo and fruit, it will be fed with milk for about three months.

The name of the panda is not Po, and it doesn’t have a name yet.  Anyone who sponsored the panda can name it as wished.  The red panda is different from giant panda.  It has a striped tail like a raccoon, and it is endangered species that lives in China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, and Burma.

Source: Discovery Channel