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WEEKLY NEWS 3: Giant Panda Born at National Zoo

The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., is home to a new resident. Giant panda Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub early Saturday morning. The cub weighs only a few ounces and is about the size of a stick of butter. Mother and baby are said to be doing well.

Zoo officials are cautiously optimistic that the cub will survive. Giant pandas born in captivity have not had a very good survival rate. The zoo’s previous pair of pandas--Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing--had five cubs, but none lived longer than a few days.

Giant pandas are considered a rare and endangered species. There are only about 1,600 of them in the wild in their natural habitat--the mountain forests of central China. An additional 140 pandas live in zoos and breeding facilities.

Zoo personnel are keeping an eye on Mei Xiang and the cub with video monitors. They are keeping a hands-off policy to allow the mother to care for her baby in a calm environment. It may be weeks before they can determine whether the new cub is a boy or girl. In the meantime, check out the PandaCam on the zoo’s web site: nationalzoo.si.edu.

--Written by Patricia Daniels

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