Zoo-goers can still see new dad Tian Tian at the panda exhibit—though not mother or cub. Photograph by Benjamin Freed.
The results are in. The National Zoo’s newborn giant panda cub is female, and her father is the resident adult male panda, Tian Tian. The zoo announced the results of sex and paternity tests Thursday morning outside the panda exhibit, while Tian Tian lazed about on a rock in the background.
The paternity test was made necessary by the zoo’s artificial insemination procedures on Mei Xiang in March. In addition to being injected with sperm from Tian Tian, Mei Xiang also received a sample from Gao Gao, a panda at the San Diego Zoo with a far more prolific reproductive history.
“The reason to do the second insemination was to make sure there’s enough sperm,” says Pierre Comizzoli, a reproductive biologist at the National Zoo.
The cub’s sex and paternity were revealed through DNA testing of a sample collected through a buccal swab of its cheek, said Nancy Rotzel, the zoo’s lab manager. To determine paternity, Rotzel and her team analyzed the DNA sequences of all three members of this panda tango and looked for genetic markers. The procedure was not dissimilar to one that would happen in a criminal forensics lab.
While every zoo employee seems elated by the mere presence of the 13-day-old cub, Commizoli added that it would have been scientifically interesting if the cub turned out to be Gao Gao’s. The artificial insemination procedures were scheduled after, once again, Tian Tian and Mei Xiang failed at breeding naturally.
The cub is by all accounts healthy and growing, zoo curator Brandie Smith said. While it is still blind as the day it was born, the cub is beginning to progress from a blobby pink thing into, well, a creature that looks more like a panda. It is starting to grow hair, including black markings around its eyes, ears, and back.
The cub will also remain nameless for about another three months following a Chinese custom in which newborn cubs get named after 100 days. The name will be selected by the National Zoo and its Chinese counterparts, though Washington-area panda gawkers may have some input.
Right now, the only way for the public to catch a glimpse of either Mei Xiang or her new cub is on one of the zoo’s panda surveillance cameras. It’ll be another few months before both are ready to return to the exhibit. But Tian Tian and his layabout ways are still on full view, a fact made quite clear by a zoo attendant stationed outside the exhibit.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
More on the National Zoo’s Panda Cub Reveal
The announcement was made outside the panda exhibit Thursday morning.
The results are in. The National Zoo’s newborn giant panda cub is female, and her father is the resident adult male panda, Tian Tian. The zoo announced the results of sex and paternity tests Thursday morning outside the panda exhibit, while Tian Tian lazed about on a rock in the background.
The paternity test was made necessary by the zoo’s artificial insemination procedures on Mei Xiang in March. In addition to being injected with sperm from Tian Tian, Mei Xiang also received a sample from Gao Gao, a panda at the San Diego Zoo with a far more prolific reproductive history.
“The reason to do the second insemination was to make sure there’s enough sperm,” says Pierre Comizzoli, a reproductive biologist at the National Zoo.
The cub’s sex and paternity were revealed through DNA testing of a sample collected through a buccal swab of its cheek, said Nancy Rotzel, the zoo’s lab manager. To determine paternity, Rotzel and her team analyzed the DNA sequences of all three members of this panda tango and looked for genetic markers. The procedure was not dissimilar to one that would happen in a criminal forensics lab.
While every zoo employee seems elated by the mere presence of the 13-day-old cub, Commizoli added that it would have been scientifically interesting if the cub turned out to be Gao Gao’s. The artificial insemination procedures were scheduled after, once again, Tian Tian and Mei Xiang failed at breeding naturally.
The cub is by all accounts healthy and growing, zoo curator Brandie Smith said. While it is still blind as the day it was born, the cub is beginning to progress from a blobby pink thing into, well, a creature that looks more like a panda. It is starting to grow hair, including black markings around its eyes, ears, and back.
The cub will also remain nameless for about another three months following a Chinese custom in which newborn cubs get named after 100 days. The name will be selected by the National Zoo and its Chinese counterparts, though Washington-area panda gawkers may have some input.
Right now, the only way for the public to catch a glimpse of either Mei Xiang or her new cub is on one of the zoo’s panda surveillance cameras. It’ll be another few months before both are ready to return to the exhibit. But Tian Tian and his layabout ways are still on full view, a fact made quite clear by a zoo attendant stationed outside the exhibit.
“The panda’s outside!” he told passers-by.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
Most Popular in News & Politics
See a Spotted Lanternfly? Here’s What to Do.
Meet DC’s 2025 Tech Titans
Trump Travels One Block From White House, Declares DC Crime-Free; Barron Trump Moves to Town; and GOP Begins Siege of Home Rule
The “MAGA Former Dancer” Named to a Top Job at the Kennedy Center Inherits a Troubled Program
Patel Dined at Rao’s After Kirk Shooting, Nonviolent Offenses Led to Most Arrests During Trump’s DC Crackdown, and You Should Try These Gougères
Washingtonian Magazine
September Issue: Style Setters
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
These Confusing Bands Aren’t Actually From DC
Fiona Apple Wrote a Song About This Maryland Court-Watching Effort
The Confusing Dispute Over the Future of the Anacostia Playhouse
Protecting Our Drinking Water Keeps Him Up at Night
More from News & Politics
Bondi Irks Conservatives With Plan to Limit “Hate Speech,” DC Council Returns to Office, and Chipotle Wants Some Money Back
GOP Candidate Quits Virginia Race After Losing Federal Contracting Job, Trump Plans Crackdown on Left Following Kirk’s Death, and Theatre Week Starts Thursday
5 Things to Know About “Severance” Star Tramell Tillman
See a Spotted Lanternfly? Here’s What to Do.
Patel Dined at Rao’s After Kirk Shooting, Nonviolent Offenses Led to Most Arrests During Trump’s DC Crackdown, and You Should Try These Gougères
How a DC Area Wetlands Restoration Project Could Help Clean Up the Anacostia River
Pressure Grows on FBI Leadership as Search for Kirk’s Killer Continues, Kennedy Center Fires More Staffers, and Spotted Lanternflies Are Everywhere
What Is Free DC?