By Ashraf Khalil
Associated Press
Giant panda Mei Xiang (left) and her cub Xiao Qiji eat fruit cake to celebrate the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute’s efforts in giant panda care, conservation, breeding and research at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo 50 Years of Achievement Washington, DC (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The “cake,” made from frozen juice, sweet potatoes, carrots and sugar cane, lasted about 15 minutes after panda mother Mei Xiang and her cub Xiao Qiji got it.
The National Zoo’s most famous tenants enjoyed a hearty breakfast in front of an adoring crowd on April 16 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the zoo’s signature panda exchange agreement with the Chinese government.
Xiao Qiji’s father, Tian Tian, who sat next to him for most of the morning celebrations, was chewing bamboo in a nearby paddock, his chomping sound identifiable, in a statement from Chinese ambassador Qin Gang. The ambassador praised the bear as a “symbol of friendship” between nations.
Pandas are almost completely alone, and in the wild, they may not even see their own children every day. He received a similar cake at lunch.
In addition to celebrating the agreement sparked by President Nixon’s landmark visit to China in 1972, the celebrations highlighted the success of a global giant panda breeding program that has helped bears recover from the brink of extinction.
Due to Mei Xiang’s advanced age and the fact that zoo staff were conducting artificial insemination procedures under strict restrictions shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the entire zoo, Xiao Qiji’s birth in August 2020 was hailed as a near miracle. Mei Xiang, 22, is the oldest giant panda to give birth in the United States.
Usually they will use a combination of frozen sperm and fresh semen extracted from Tian Tian. But to minimize the number of brachytherapy procedures, zoo officials use only frozen semen.
“It’s definitely been a long pregnancy,” said Bryan Amaral, the zoo’s senior curator of mammal affairs.
In honor of the vision, the now 20-month-old cub has been given a name that translates to “Little Miracle.” His birth in the middle of the pandemic sparked a new wave of panda mania, with ratings for the zoo’s live panda video soaring 1,200 percent.
“I know how passionate people are about pandas,” Amaral said. “I’m not at all surprised by the enthusiasm.”
Sure enough, when the zoo opened at 8:00 in the morning, the panda area began to be crowded. Sisters Lorelai and Everley Greenwell, 6 and 5, ran to the paddock, chanting “Panda! Panda!”
They watched the cub roll over, try to wrestle his mom, and rip zeros off the giant 50 stamped on the ice cake.
“They knew it was coming,” Mt. Lanier, Maryland mother Kelly Greenwell said of her daughter. “We’ve been talking about it all week.”
The zoo’s original 1972 panda pair Lingling and Xingxing have been the zoo’s star attraction for decades, but panda pregnancy is notoriously tricky and none of their cubs have survived.
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived here in 2000, and they have already successfully given birth to three other cubs: Tai Shan, Bao Bao and Bei Bei – also through artificial insemination.
All were transported to China at the age of 4, according to an agreement between the zoo and the Chinese government.
Similar agreements with zoos around the world have helped revive giant panda populations. By the 1980s, there were just over 1,000 bears left, and the species has since been removed from the list of endangered animals.
