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Giant Panda Gives Birth On Camera but died three days after
A camera at Oji zoo in Japan, has captured the amazing delivery of a baby panda - the first to be successfully bred through artificial insemination in two decades.
20 years after the last successful artificial insemination in Japan, Tantan (12), the giant female panda in Kobe Oji Zoo gave birth last Monday (August 26, 2008) to a healthy cub through the same reproductive method. Weighing around 100 grams and about 25 centimeters in length, the baby panda's sex is still unknown. It will take 3 more months before the zoo let the public see the cub openly. In the meantime the zoo plans to get the public's help in naming the little giant panda.
Update on new born panda cup:
Baby panda dies after just three days
Published: Saturday, August 30, 2008
TOKYO - A giant panda cub whose rare birth by artificial insemination led to rejoicing in Japan died on Friday after just three days, zoo officials said.
The cub was the first panda to be born through artificial insemination in Japan in two decades, raising hopes of future success in breeding the crowd-pleasing but notoriously infertile animals.
But Oji Zoo in the western city of Kobe said the cub was confirmed dead Friday afternoon.
"Zoo officials and veterinarians were monitoring it 24 hours a day, but it ended with a sad result," the zoo said on its website.
The cub was just 25 centimetres long and weighed 100 grams.
Its sex had not yet been determined, and zoo officials said the cause of death was under investigation.
Captive giant pandas are known for their low sex drive, which is exacerbating falling numbers.
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