Baby Panda Born; Another On Way

The panda cub born Tuesday at the San Diego zoo appears to be "a fairly precocious infant," according to zoo officials.

A giant panda delivered the first of two cubs that she's carrying on Aug. 19. Now zoo officials are waiting for cub number two to arrive. The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen has been keeping an eye on this story.

Giant Panda Team Leader Don Lindburg says both mom and cub are doing well.

"We are very confident that the infant has nursed several times," he says. "It is sleeping a lot. We heard this morning that the eyespots are already visible. This must be a fairly precocious infant."

Though it is known yet if the cub is a male or female, Lindburg points out, "Its temperament is quite different from that of a female that was born here in 1999. So the speculation is, well, this one must be a boy."

Coincidentally, that cub's fourth birthday is today, Wednesday, Aug. 20.

But for now, all eyes are on the newst cub. Lindburg was the one who announced the happy event Tuesday: "It was an exciting day for us. At about 1:15 this afternoon, our female Bai Yun delivered a live cub," he said.

Focus is also on its unborn twin. Lindburg says, "The mother had a series of labor contractions. We really don't understand what's going on here. Other than the fact that we knew there were two fetuses, that both were alive 10 days before the first one was born. We have nothing in that gap to tell us of the possible fate of the second twin."

Asked if an induced labor would be a way to go, Lindburg says, "We wouldn't do that in this case because of need not to disrupt what's going on between the mother and the twin that she has. The mother and the cub are doing just fine, and this is really the norm for pandas, to have only a single infant that is raised by the mother. So we don't want to disturb that relationship in any way. A second twin is kind of like icing on the cake. If it is viable at the time of birth and you can rescue it, then you've got an extra panda to raise."

Since her pregnancy was discovered several weeks ago, Bai Yun was kept away from the public in the birthing den she had built for herself.

Lindburg says, "There was no sign of a contraction and suddenly there is a very loud vocalizing, slithering little animal on the floor. She immediately leaned over, as panda mothers do, and picked her up in her mouth and put her on her body.

Zoo officials say it can be more than a day before the second baby is born. In 1999, Bai Yun and the San Diego Zoo made history when she became the first panda in the United States to give birth to a living cub, later named Hua Mae. Since then, the zoo has been trying to get her pregnant again. Chen visited the zoo just last week to learn more about the new pregnancy.

Gao Gao has been at the San Diego Zoo just eight months and he may be the proud papa. But zoo officials are not quite sure.

Lindburg explains, "The reason for that is our newly arrived male did mate naturally with Bai Yun on March 22, but on the 23rd and 24th, he must have had a headache because he was no longer interested, but the female was very receptive."

Bai Yun was artificially inseminated with frozen sperm from a different panda. Zoo officials still don't know whether it was the sex or the test tube. But either way, Lindburg says, "When the first ultra sound results were announced, there was ecstasy."

How is a panda subjected to ultra sound?

"We trained Bai Yun to do this without any kind of chemical restraint. She lies on her back and allows veterinarians to move the wand over her abdominal region," Lindburg says.

And they picked up signs of two fetuses on a Sunday morning early this month. The twins present a problem because panda moms will care for only one cub.

Lindburg says, "There's a question of what to do with that second twin. Obviously, the solution to that is to retrieve it from the birth den as soon as it is safe to do so. We will take it then to our nursery for bottle-feeding."

Even before the births, the San Diego Zoo with its three resident pandas held the record for the most pandas at one time. Now, the zoo is heading into unchartered waters.

Meanwhile, the pandas remain blissfully unaware of the excitement around them as they munch on bamboo and settle in for an afternoon snooze.

The new baby will be given a name by Chinese officials. The baby must be returned to China when it turns 3 years old.