After the sadness of Steve Irwin's death, I thought it would be nice to have some good news.
Lun Lun, the female panda at Zoo Atlanta, gave birth to a baby panda about 4:50 PM, Wednesday afternoon. The baby is pink and hairless and only the size of a stick of butter! So far, it seems like Lun Lun is taking care of the baby and bonding well with it.
There was a chance that she might have a twin - twins are born between 12 and 24 hours after the first cub. So much time has passed that zoologists don't think she will have another, but they are still watching just in case. Often, when a twin is born, the mother panda won't take care of it, so the zoo keepers want to be able to rescue it if another is born.
Lun Lun and her partner Yang Yang came to Atlanta seven years ago from China. Their baby is the fifth panda born in a US zoo, and the first born in the south.
You can read more about it at the Atlanta Journal Constitution site - you can even see the birth (it's not gross or too detailed) or participate in a blog to name the new baby. (Don't forget - you might need to register, but it's free).
Have you seen the pandas? What did you think (I thought they were SO cute!!!)? What do you think a good name for the baby would be? What are some other animals you would like to see more of in the US?
Some people are against zoos, saying that it's cruel to keep animals locked up for human entertainment, but others point to the good zoos can do, particularly with endangered species, like pandas. What do you think?
19 comments:
Hi!!!!
I think the baby panda is soooooo cute! A good name for the panda I think would be Lola because I heard somewhere it is traditional to give pandas repetitive names!
Hehe! Suprising how a big panda like that gives birth to somethign so tiny and hairless. Well i think it really cool.
¥Ü¥ <----Meh sigh
What I mean by saying the baby panda is cute,you know because its like pink and the size of a stick of butter, is, well, I dont know but its cute!!!!!!!
Thats wierd how a little rat sized thing could grow up to be a huge bear
Wow. They're that small when they're born? Thats so weird. They grow up to be so cute a cuddley though!
Thats great news! i didnt think baby pandas were that small! they must grow fast...
wow that baby panda is way too small and it looks so fragile and easy to snap in half...but i wont do that to pandas. theyre endangered little critters....but it doesnt look like a panda so why do they make it that way? i think god has some explaining to do...
awwwww i love pandas they're so cute! do u think my mom would let me have a panda. ill take care of it and bring it to school for show and tell. lol
~jane taing
haha Jane!
I'll help you take care of it if I can keep it :)
Ha Jane!!!!! If I had a panda as a pet it might want to eat my dog, which may not be a bad thing!!!!!(jk)very cool!
I think that the baby panda is cool and that it is the sixth panda to be born in the U.S. I can't believe that it is so small but in like 5 years it will be like 200 pounds. I wishi could grow that fast but i wouldn't want to weigh 200 pounds
It's amazing to study the birth and development of other species - some are so very different from us!
i think it is weird how pandas are pink and like REALLY small when they are born. they look like naked mole rats. then when they grow up the are HUGE!that is really weird but i guess kinda cool.
Those baby pandas, right there, in those pictures are amazing. I love their pink, hairless, butterstick sized selves. =]
^gaby sutton
i think that zoos are awesome and actually, they HELP the animals by protecting them and helping them breed :) so,zoos help preserve animals and help to make more of them so they arent as endagered as they are at the moment. I mean look it, we already added 1 more panda to the panda population!
^gaby sutton
i would name the baby panda Chyou , becuase it is a really cute name and i think that maybe it would fit the panda very well :)
^gaby sutton
aww cute lil thing but the parent is so BIG while the lil baby is so small and hairless kinda creepy
THOSE BABIES ARE SO TINY THEN THEY GROW UP TO BE ALL BIG
It is amazing to think how big they will grow - like Gaby, I think zoos can be a very good thing provided they are run well, with the animals needs in mind. I like the trend towards more natural habitats for the animals. When I was young the zoos had more cages that looked cold and uncomfortable - the animals never looked happy.
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