Adorable Yuan Zai - the first panda to be born in Taiwan - is starting to show her little personality as she grows stronger.
New pictures of the heart-melting Giant Panda cub, who was born last month, show the cute creature rolling around and showing an interest in others.
Little girl Yuan Zai was born at Taipei City Zoo, Taiwan, to Giant Pandas Yuan Yuan and Tuan Tuan.
A team of keepers have been working around the clock to take care of the cub, who was initially kept in an incubator.
But the public will have to wait three months to catch a glimpse of Taiwan's first newborn panda, officials said in July.
The little girl in the meantime is starting to gain some strength and show some interest in things around her.
When held up to her mother's cage, the cute cub reached out her tiny paws. The mother, transfixed by the tiny bear cub, licked her through the cage.
Staff at Taipei City Zoo have been caring for the miniature panda around the clock.
Their daily routine includes feeding the cub, taking her temperature after each meal, changing her bedding and keeping track of her weight, zoo official Chang Chi-hua said.
Yuan Yuan and her mate, Tuan Tuan, were gifted to Taiwan by China in late 2008 as a cross-Taiwan Strait gesture of goodwill and Yuan Zai is their first cub.
In the wild, female Giant Pandas usually give birth to a cub every two years, for about 15 years.
During the mating season several male pandas usually compete for a female and the dominant male will go on to mate with the female several times.
However, breeding in captivity has proven to be difficult.
It appears that male pandas show little interest in females and seem not to know how to mate.
Many zoos pair one female panda with one male panda, and often the pair have struggled to produce offspring.
It has been suggested that without other male pandas, males do not compete for females.
Also, female pandas only have a small window each year in which to fall pregnant. Every spring, they are in heat for 12 to 25 days, but they are only fertile for 24 to 36 hours of this time.
In order to produce panda cubs, some zoos have used artificial insemination techniques.
Source
New pictures of the heart-melting Giant Panda cub, who was born last month, show the cute creature rolling around and showing an interest in others.
Little girl Yuan Zai was born at Taipei City Zoo, Taiwan, to Giant Pandas Yuan Yuan and Tuan Tuan.
A team of keepers have been working around the clock to take care of the cub, who was initially kept in an incubator.
But the public will have to wait three months to catch a glimpse of Taiwan's first newborn panda, officials said in July.
The little girl in the meantime is starting to gain some strength and show some interest in things around her.
When held up to her mother's cage, the cute cub reached out her tiny paws. The mother, transfixed by the tiny bear cub, licked her through the cage.
Staff at Taipei City Zoo have been caring for the miniature panda around the clock.
Their daily routine includes feeding the cub, taking her temperature after each meal, changing her bedding and keeping track of her weight, zoo official Chang Chi-hua said.
Yuan Yuan and her mate, Tuan Tuan, were gifted to Taiwan by China in late 2008 as a cross-Taiwan Strait gesture of goodwill and Yuan Zai is their first cub.
In the wild, female Giant Pandas usually give birth to a cub every two years, for about 15 years.
During the mating season several male pandas usually compete for a female and the dominant male will go on to mate with the female several times.
However, breeding in captivity has proven to be difficult.
It appears that male pandas show little interest in females and seem not to know how to mate.
Many zoos pair one female panda with one male panda, and often the pair have struggled to produce offspring.
It has been suggested that without other male pandas, males do not compete for females.
Also, female pandas only have a small window each year in which to fall pregnant. Every spring, they are in heat for 12 to 25 days, but they are only fertile for 24 to 36 hours of this time.
In order to produce panda cubs, some zoos have used artificial insemination techniques.
Source
VIDEO
Giant Panda Baby Back to Mom's Embrace
This is actually horrible... Imagine a human mom only being allowed to see her baby through bars... You can tell both mom and cub are stressed by this situation. How is this little one going to know how to be a bear? It's great that they are preserving the species and yet it is clearly at a cost... Animals should be allowed to nurture their own young. This is wrong somehow.
I agree. This is horrible. Moms and babies belong together.
The title caption says "heatwarming"...I think it is tragic that the mother only gets to lick her new born...
sorry this turned my stomach! it is horrible. the condition, size of the mother's cage, and to have baby away and teased with it! why so clinical... understand trying to breed these pandas, but really! thought this zoo in this age would be sooooo different. clinical, old fashioned and tragic
Looks like the zookeepers needed to know Mom would would accept the baby..they weren't sure at first..now they are reunited.
I'm wondering if they were more worried about survival rate than natural instincts and afraid of her possibly rejecting the cub which is why it's introduction is through the grating. I'd bet they didn't want to gamble on her natural mothering instincts kicking in since conception is so rare. I'm glad she wanted to lick the cub rather than try to attack it.
I don't know about the whole set up, but this seems like most other breeding facilities where all we see are the indoor interaction areas. I doubt this is where they are kept 24/7 and it's not like we got a grand tour in the video.
Horrible!!! Then they give Mom a stuffed toy!?! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I believe there is a good reason for keeping mother and baby separate for awhile. After all the baby has been in a incubator. I'm sure when the baby is stronger the situation will change.
How sad :(
from what I understand a mother panda will reject her baby and they are a very fragile animal so they will take the baby until it is a certain age then give it back to her
Hopefully the zoo know what they are doing..both mother and baby look to be well cared for, Beautiful creatures - may they have long and happy lives. I would like to see more video film of mother and baby together now. :)
I believe the title of this article is misleading. "Heart melting moment" should be replaced with "heart wrenching moment"... now awful for a new mom to have her newborn taken away and only be able to see it weeks later! I know what the scientists are doing- I read the story! This is just pure torture!
:'(
Baby panda mortality rates are extremely high. Many die because the moms actually squish them by sitting or stepping on them as they are super tiny when born.
can't help thinking 'tasty morsel'.......hope the relationship survives and improves..
In a later video it shows Mum trying to make the baby sleep. But the surroundings look to be over 60 years old. All cement, water still on the floor, a bit of bamboo to eat. That is all I could see. What the hell?
Unless the cub was sick, the cub should have been allowed to be with it's mother. The species survived fine without human intervention. What they are doing is cruel.
I think they have to hand raise the cubs, just to be sure, but when the cub was in the cage with momma, Momma picked it up by it's leg, geeI hope all is well
The cub got raised by human hands in the beginning, maybe because it was to weak. When they put it immediately back to the mother, there is a big chance the mother will kill the baby. Just because it smells different, or because she is not used to the baby. Thats why they are checking her reaction on the baby. She reacted stressed, because she wanted to be with her cub. If she would act agressive, they probably wont give her the baby. Im not saying that stress is a good thing, but in this situation it was. It was the sign of a mother who want to hold her baby.
Can someone explain why are they not letting the cub to be with her mother?
I think this is very sad. I feel sorry for the mom. But I can understand why they are slowly reintroducing the baby to its mama. I hope they give her, baby back to her.
this panda baby and mother were kept together ... mmmm .... http://www.zoovienna.at/en/zoo-and-visitors/panda-baby-schonbrunn-zoo/