Our giant panda cub is male & sired by Tian Tian! #PandaStory http://t.co/7B0S11fLte pic.twitter.com/YSXpOKsDv8
— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) August 28, 2015
The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., announced Friday that the surviving cub of giant panda Mei Xiang is a boy.
Genetic testing also showed that he was sired by China's panda, Tian Tian, the zoo tweeted.
The cub, along with another, smaller panda cub (also male) that died earlier this week, were born Saturday. As we reported this week, "The two cubs were born hours apart; the zoo staff had been attempting to give both of them access to their mother, Mei Xiang, but they reportedly had difficulty in switching the cubs."
No news yet of a potential name. It's unclear whether the zoo will wait 100 days to name the panda, per tradition.
You can follow along in real-time as the panda grows by watching the National Zoo's panda cam.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
The cub is doing well and growing. Mei Xiang put him down in the den for ~1 min last night #PandaStory pic.twitter.com/J97RevcsT4
— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) August 28, 2015
