Panda Lead Corporate Sponsor:
Purchase Panda Cam, a book with images of Tai Shan's first seven months, at the National Zoo Store.
Giant Panda Expectations 2009
Zoo scientists and veterinarians performed two nonsurgical artificial insemination procedures on Mei Xiang in January. They are monitoring Mei's hormones to assess her reproductive state.
Giant Panda Expectations 2008
Zoo scientists monitored Mei Xiang's hormones to assess her reproductive state. New data and analyses are posted frequently. On August 13, Zoo scientists confirmed that panda Mei Xiang will not give birth to a cub this year. They believe that she experienced either a pseudopregnancy or the loss of a developing fetus. Fetal loss during early pregnancy is a common occurrence in mammals, but the reasons for this phenomenon are poorly understood.
Giant Panda Expectations 2007
(July 5, 2007)
Zoo scientists once again monitored Mei Xiang's hormones to assess her reproductive state. She was articifically inseminated in early April. On July 5, Zoo scientists concluded that she had experienced a pseudopregnancy. There will be no cub this year.
Giant Panda Expectations 2005
(July 9, 2005)
After closely monitoring Mei Xiang's hormones and behavior, Zoo scientists determined that the 2005 mating season would begin March 10. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian did not mate successfully, but Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated with Tian Tian's semen on the morning of March 11. Zoo scientists monitored hormonal changes and behavior for clues to the progress of a possible pregnancy. Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub on July 9.
Giant
Panda Expectations 2004
(September 15, 2004)
Mei Xiang was in estrus on May 1, but no copulations occurred. On May 2, her estrus was over, and Zoo scientists artifically inseminated her, but the chances of a pregnancy are remote. Scientists monitored Mei Xiang's hormones throughout the summer to determine if she was pregnant or, more likely, experienced a pseudopregnancy, as she did in 2003. On September 15, Zoo scientists confirmed she had experienced a pseudopregnancy.
Giant
Panda Expectation 2003
(August 22, 2003)
Ever since giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian
mated on April 4, 2003, everyone at the National Zoo—along
with many others in the Washington, D.C., area and around
the world—waited anxiously to know whether Mei
Xiang became pregnant. Find
out all the details of Mei Xiang's pseudopregnancy.
Nighttime
Behavior Watch
(March 14-21, 2003)
Find out about the monitoring of Mei Xiang and
Tian Tian in the wee hours of the night and what it
teaches us.
The
Parallel Universes of Panda Pairs
(Fall 2002)
Newly published research reveals that the circadian
rhythms and activity patterns in Mei Xiang and Tian
Tian seem to mirror that of the Zoo's former panda residents
Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing and some other pandas observed
in captivity.
Factors
associated with normal breeding behavior in male giant
pandas in Chinese breeding centers
(Fall 2002)
Research Indicates that normal breeding behavior in
male giant pandas is more likely in China due to exposure
to femal pandas throughout the year, privacy in their
environment and interaction with animal care staff,
among other factors.
Foraging
Skills Study 2002-2003
How do giant pandas find their food? That's one
question that Lorie Tarou, Research Assistant for Giant
Panda Behavior Studies, is interested in trying to answer.
It may sound simple, but because of the pandas' unique
categorization as an herbivorous carnivore, the usual
assumptions about foraging are impossible to make.
The
Giant Panda Bamboo Preference Study
at the National Zoo was designed to determine
what kind of bamboo Mei Xiang and Tian Tian like most.
Jessamine Williams, an undergrad in Georgetown University's
biology program, conducted the research with direction
from National Zoo scientists and wrote this research
summary.
Historic
Night Watch, May 4-11, 2001
Research
Symposium Summary January 2002
A giant panda research symposium held at the
National Zoo January 15 and 16, 2002 entitled "GIANT
PANDAS AND THE NATIONAL ZOO: From The First Year Into
The Future" was a fascinating look at what scientists
are most curious about with regard to the species. Find
out for yourself what questions are being investigated.
Managing
Giant Panda Reproduction: How artificial insemination
helps ensure the survival of a species. Rebecca
Spindler's work with scientists in Wolong helped to
improve the panda population in China and around the
globe. Her words and photos show how exchanging information
and resources results in a better breeding program and
improves the outlook for the future of giant pandas
in China and perhaps here in Washington, too. 
more
National
Zoo behaviorist David Powell spent the summer in China,
where he studied the behavior of giant pandas at four
different breeding centers or zoos.
He,
and everyone who is interested in giant pandas, wants
to find ways to improve the breeding success of these
endangered bears. These pages are extracted from the journal
Powell kept while working in China.
more
(Summer
2001)
A
journal kept by former Zoo Director Lucy Spelman while traveling
to Giant Panda Reserves in China
Panda Conservation Brings Lucy Spelman Back to China
(Fall 2001)
Around the Rim in Fourteen
Days: Travels
into Giant Panda Reserves in the Mountains that Rim
the China's Sichuan Basin (May 2001)
