Newborn Pandas (cute)

"QUANTUM SHOT" #232

I resisted posting this. But I can resist no longer...

Some cuteness just cries out to be let out in the open. So feast your eyes on the newborn panda from China's Wolong Reserve. Panda's births in captivity are extremely rare. However there has been a surge in such prized arrivals - pandas were also delivered in zoos in Washington, D.C., San Diego and Atlanta. In 2006 a total of six pandas were born in China. (The images are compilation between various arrivals). The newborn panda weighs only 100 grams (the fully grown animal weighs up to 160 kilos) and remains without black/white coloration for the whole first month of its life.
Photographs courtesy China Newsphoto/Reuters/Corbis agency.

Panda's procreation requires much closer attention than we usually think, even a bit of "encouraging" from humans (including artificial insemination). It seems pandas naturally have almost no instinct to breed. Combine it with the very short mating season (only a few days a year) and a low mothering instinct in panda's parents. And even baby panda was lucky enough to get born, her development is still in jeopardy. Sometimes pandas accidentally kill their siblings just out of sheer clumsiness, and because they weigh so much. So the human effort is really appreciated in this struggle to keep pandas from becoming extinct.

Other sources: News.online.ua, Sabina

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