RAW: San Diego Zoo panda gives birth to 5th cub

SAN DIEGO — Prized San Diego Zoo panda Bai Yun gave birth Wednesday to her fifth cub after a 130-day pregnancy that zookeepers said ended with an apparently pleasant labor.

The cub born to 17-year-old Bai Yun (White Cloud) became just the 14th panda in the United States, five of which are in San Diego.

Shortly before the birth, the mother licked herself, rolled on her back to grab her hind legs and stood on her head.

"We saw a contraction and then about five seconds later, we just heard a wailing cry of the cub. ... It was a very vocal cub, it was like whoa. It's got a really good set of lungs," veterinarian Dr. Meg Sutherland-Smith said at a news conference.

"She really had, I think, a very pleasant labor, not that I would know, but she didn't have seemingly as much discomfort or moving about as what we've seen in the past," she said.

Bai Yun seemed comfortable with the cub and appeared to start nursing about 30 minutes after birth.

"She knows she's been there, done that," Sutherland-Smith said.

A second fetus had been detected, but it was probably absorbed in the mother's uterus.

The pink, nearly hairless panda newborn weighed about 4 ounces and is about the size of a stick of butter. Its gender won't be known for several weeks, until officials can get a better look, and it won't get a name for 100 days, in line with Chinese tradition.

Mom and cub will lead private lives for the next four months or so, but they will appear on the zoo's live Panda Cam, which can be watched online.

Bai Yun, who weighs about 300 pounds, was born in a breeding center in China and arrived in San Diego in 1996.

The zoo announced last week that Bai Yun was pregnant, based on ultrasound tests.

The father is longtime consort Gao Gao (Big Big), who has fathered three of Bai Yun's other cubs.

The number of cubs makes the pair one of the most reproductively successful panda couples ever in captivity.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• San
• Diego
• Zoo
• panda
• gives
• birth
• to
• 5th
• cub

[toomanydietcokes]

The sounds in this video make my rat terrier go CRAZY every time! It's hilarious!

[Ciaobella006]

He would qualify to be an International Peace Mascot!!!! How can one not smile when seeing this little cub!?

[TheMAKEProductions]

soooooooooooooooooo cuteeeeeeeeeeee