# National Zoo in DC has a PANDA CUB!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 9, 2005, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733 "2005-07-09T11:17:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/1 "2005-07-09T11:17:21Z")
OMG, I can’t believe this! I’m not sure that they’d announced it earlier, because apparently the birth occurred at around 4 AM EDT, but they just had it on the local NBC cut from the Weekend Today show. They have had a birth watch on the female panda (lol naturally the female :smack:) for the past several weeks, 24/7, and last night had said that they were down to the last few days. Panda pregnancies, rare as they are, are apparently quite difficult to detect and many times it’s a pseudo pregnancy. But this time it was for real! Well you can count me in among the folks who will be heading to the National Zoo to see the cub, as soon as they will allow it, that is! 😛 I’ll probably wait until the huge crowds have quieted down a bit but I’ve got to see the panda cub. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/2 "2005-07-09T11:47:31Z")
Hey, that’s cool! I lived there when Mei Xiang and Tian Tian first arrived. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/3 "2005-07-09T12:37:32Z")
Panda cubs are extremely cute. They look so stereotypical little fur balls tripping over their feet. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/4 "2005-07-09T14:28:04Z")
Where’s that thread about how pandas can’t seem to ever get it on? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/5 "2005-07-09T15:11:55Z")
OOh, wonderful. I’ve never seen a panda cub, only the full-grown version (which of course is also cute). Well done, motherpanda! ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/6 "2005-07-09T16:29:47Z")
We were just there yesterday, and didn’t go see the pandas due to time constraints. Now we probably won’t see the baby til fall. I can wait. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/7 "2005-07-09T16:35:21Z")
Aw, adorable! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/8 "2005-07-09T19:53:28Z")
Good job, you oversized raccoons, you! (Anyone remember the pictures of one of many disastrous reproductive attempts by Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling, where the little panda offspring kind of shot out and hit a wall? No fun whatshoever.) ---
**Author:** ![BlueKangaroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@BlueKangaroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueKangaroo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/9 "2005-07-09T20:03:43Z")
Ah, we thought they were raccoons for so long, but at the Panda exhibit at the National Zoo a few months ago the Panda volunteer told us that DNA evidence indicates that they really are more like bears. Yay for a panda cub! ---
**Author:** ![Low\_Key\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@Low\_Key\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Low_Key_1)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/10 "2005-07-09T21:02:09Z")
Cool. I was there about a week or so ago. Although, I won’t be back for a long time (if ever), so I guess that I will never get the chance to actually see the cub. According to the exhibit stuff they had there in the panda house, a newborn cub can fit in the palm of your hand. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/11 "2005-07-09T21:20:12Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Where’s that thread about how pandas can’t seem to ever get it on? Well, Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated, does that still count as getting it on? ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/12 "2005-07-09T22:21:08Z")
The local news just showed the first pics of the panda cub! As the Zoo describes it, it’s about the size “of a stick of butter,” and that looked pretty accurate to me. Word is that Mei Xiang appears to be bonding with the cub and the cub also sounds very healthy - it was wailing away! The Panda house will likely be off-limits to zoo visitors for some time - it will probably be the fall before the cub will debut to the public but there will probably be huge crowds when that happens. In the meantime, though, the Zoo will probably have pics up at their website. Which I don’t happen to remember the URL to off the top of my head, sorry! I will be among the folks to visit the Zoo to see the pandas and cub but will give the crowds a chance to thin out a bit before I venture there. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/13 "2005-07-10T00:12:56Z")
do they have a panda cam? it is really cool watching a cub grow up. san diego got me soooooo hooked on panda cam. congrats! dc. ---
**Author:** ![BlueKangaroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@BlueKangaroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueKangaroo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-zoo-in-dc-has-a-panda-cub/311733/14 "2005-07-10T00:43:44Z")
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