It's a girl!
On Thursday, National Zoo announced the gender of the baby panda born last month. They also announced the paternity of the cub, which was previously unknown.
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In this photo released by the Smithsonian National Zoo, Mei Xiang's cub is given its first neonatal exam by the panda team at the zoo. The cub is a baby girl, the zoo announced Thursday. UPI | License Photo
The cub is the child of Mei Xiang, Washington's celebrity panda. Her father is Tian Tian, a 16-year-old, 264-pound male that lives in the same zoo.
Mei Xiang gave birth to the baby panda on August 23, creating panda-monium among thousands of excited live-panda-cam viewers. The baby was about the size of a stick of butter at birth.
The name of the female will not be announced until 100 days after the birth, in adherence to Chinese tradition.
Mei Xiang gave birth to a second cub the day after the first was born, but it was stillborn.
The mother was artificially inseminated by sperm from two different pandas -- one was Tian Tian, and the other was Gao Gao, a 20-plus-year-old, 174-pound giant panda from the San Diego Zoo.
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