Revealed: The Secret World Of The Panda

Giant Pandas eating bamboo in Sichuan Province, China Photo: ALAMY

From The Telegraph:

New research has revealed that, contrary to popular beliefs, pandas are surprisingly well-equipped for survival.

The giant panda is one of the best-known symbols in the world, used to sell everything from electronic goods to fizzy drinks, chocolate to biscuits, liquorice to cigarettes – not to mention global conservation. Yet thanks to its shy and retiring nature, it has long been one of the planet’s most mysterious creatures. Why, for example, do pandas eat bamboo? Why do they appear to have such difficulty breeding? And how on earth has such a seemingly maladjusted species managed to survive for so long?

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San Diego Zoo's Giant Panda, Bai Yun, Gives Birth To A Healthy Cub

From The L.A. Times:

Late last month, the San Diego Zoo announced that its resident female giant panda, Bai Yun, was pregnant. Pandas' reproductive systems are still largely a mystery to researchers, so even zoo staff, who'd been monitoring Bai Yun extremely closely, didn't know when she would give birth.

Today just before 5 a.m., Bai Yun gave birth to what the zoo's senior research technician Suzanne Hall called a "vigorous, squawking" cub. For about 24 hours prior to the birth, Bai Yun had been restless, alternating between sleep and bouts of nest-building, Hall wrote on the zoo's blog. The cub's gender is not yet known.

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