WASHINGTON — Jubilation over the recent birth of panda twins at the National Zoo turned to sadness Wednesday as one of the newborn cubs died after 3½ days.
The zoo’s panda mom Mei Xiang gave birth to the first cub Saturday at 5:35 p.m. and a second cub about five hours later. Had both cubs survived, they would have been the 17-year-old panda’s third and fourth surviving offspring.
The remaining cub, the larger of the two, appears to be strong, robust and behaving normally, the zoo said. The surviving cub remains with its mother.
Veterinarians did not immediately announce the cause of the smaller cub’s death but said they would perform a necropsy, the equivalent of a human autopsy.
“This is a hard loss for us,” said zoo Director Dennis Kelly during a press conference at the zoo. “It’s really hard to keep these creatures thriving.”
Nothing was obviously wrong with the cub that died, and the zoo doesn’t know if it was born with problems, said Associate Director for Animal Care Sciences Brandie Smith. Despite its small size, the cub was still in the normal size range for cubs that have survived, she said.
“Right now we still have a very healthy mom and one very healthy baby,” Smith said.
Mei Xiang has two other surviving offspring. The first, Tai Shan, was born in 2005. Her second cub, Bao Bao, turned 2 years old Sunday. This isn’t the first time that Mei Xiang has lost a cub. She gave birth to a stillborn cub in 2013, the same year she gave birth to Bao Bao. And in 2012, Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub that died after just six days. Its lungs hadn’t fully developed.
Zookeepers had been trying to care for the twin cubs using a technique developed by Chinese breeders. Because pandas won’t usually nurse twins if left to their own devices, breeders have adopted a practice where every several hours they swap the cubs, giving each one time with its mother.
