Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Panda cub carefully watched

|
|
 
  
Published: Sept. 9, 2006 at 6:10 PM

ATLANTA, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Keepers at Zoo Atlanta are keeping a wary eye on their newborn panda to prevent the tiny cub from being harmed by its mother.

On Thursday, a day after the new arrival in Atlanta, a panda cub at a zoo in China was killed accidentally when its mother rolled over on top of it.

"It's something you can't do a whole lot about," said Dr. Dwight Lawson, a vice president at the Atlanta zoo, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. "It's a byproduct of the fact that the mother is so big and the cub is so small."

Pandas have the smallest young relative to the size of the mother of any animal. The cub in Atlanta weighs 4 ounces, while its mother, Lun Lun, weighs 237 pounds, 900 times as much.

Lun Lun has been an attentive mother, keepers say. They were prepared to take the cub away if she seemed to be neglectful, the newspaper said.

Instead, they are waiting until Lun Lun eats -- which may be days or even weeks away -- before they examine the cub and determine its sex.

The public also has a chance to watch Lun Lun and the cub online through the zoo's panda cam.

Topics: Lun Lun
© 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 27
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego wins Finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
View Caption
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, California watches confetti rain down as she wins the two-day Scripps National Spelling Bee championship, May 31, 2012, in National Harbor, Maryland. Nandipati successfully spelled the word .* guetapens *, meaning to lure or ambush. UPI/Mike Theiler
fark
Hutt robbery "cowardly." Oh, so I suppose hiring intergalactic bounty hunters is the paragon of...
Across America, more and more cities are trying to regulate garage sales. In other news, some people...
Bank robber caught hiding during a game of duct, duct, goose
Criteria for using sugar snap peas: Did someone get told? [Yes] Sugar snap peas
You got your peanut butter in my flame retardant You got your flame retardant in my peanut butter...
Photoshop this monitor mug on a motorcycle