D.C. residents and certain Gothamist editors rejoice! The Post reports that Mei Xiang, the 7 year-old panda at the National Zoo, has given birth to a cub "the size of a stick of butter," a visual that both makes us go "aww" and manages to creep us out.

The zoo's web site says that

Female Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub at 3:41 a.m. on July 9. Mother and cub seem to be doing fine. At a 9 a.m. briefing, Head Veterinarian Suzan Murray and Assistant Curator Lisa Stevens reported that the cub is active and loudly vocal, and Mei is showing signs of being a great mother. She picked up the cub within about two minutes of its birth and has been cuddling and cradling it since then. When mom dozes off, and the cub squeals, she immediately wakes up and attends to it.

The pregnancy is the result of artificial insemination performed last March. Staff at the zoo hadn't been sure up until the actual birth that Mei Xiang was in fact pregnant; panda pregnancies are notoriously hard to track, and false pregnancies happen regularly. Even though Mei Xiang's hormone levels had indicated a pregnancy, it wasn't until 1 a.m. last night that zoo staff noticed signs of an impending birth.

The baby panda is good news for a zoo that has undergone a troubling period of animal deaths and the resignation last year of director Lucy Spelman. To ensure the cub's health, the staff will maintain a "hands off" approach during this potentially difficult period (previous panda pregnancies at the zoo resulted in cubs that only lived a few days). The panda exhibit will be closed for the next three months.