Man Stops Traffic at 17th and K to Demand $200 Million
Morning Roundup: Goodbye, Abe Edition
Judge Throws Out WTU Suit Over Teacher Layoffs
Vegetate to Close at the End of the Month
Morning Roundup: Rain Won't Go Away Edition
WTOP broke the news last night that the National Zoo suspects its female panda, Mei Xiang, may be pregnant. As you'll recall, Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated by a donation from San Diego's nefarious male panda Gao Gao — an event about which we were deeply suspicious at first — but if Gao Gao's sperm is going to deliver us a new bundle of adorableness to obsessively watch on the PandaCam this year, we suppose we can get over our little tiff with San Diego.
Of course, as you'll all remember from going through this before, there's no way the zoo can be sure that Mei Xiang is pregnant again until right before she might give birth. As the Post explains in more detail, Mei Xiang's hormone levels spiked yesterday, and if they stay elevated over a period of time and then drop -- she could be about to give birth, or it could have been a false pregnancy. All we can do is wait while her hormone levels are tested daily, though officials also said a fetus could become visible on ultrasound in the next two or three weeks.
There is some discrepancy in reports of when the Zoo expects a cub could be born: the Post says early September, while WTOP says mid-July. We're anxious to start taking nominations for a new nickname for the potential little fur ball, but we certainly don't want to jinx what isn't yet a confirmed pregnancy. So cross your fingers and wait, D.C.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Butterball!
I can't believe it's not Butterstick
I would like to follow the healthfood theme and go with slice-0-bacon. Bacon kicks ass.
Oooooo Butterstick 2.0!
I love that DC's most adored celebrity is not a politician, or even Matthew Lesko, but a Panda Bear. And what an adorable celebrity he is, too! I still haven't seen old 'Stick yet; I'm afraid of the throngs of two wrists that choke the Zoo.
Margarine (Marg for short?)
Parkay
if it's a boy, Brotherstick
how about Evil Hate Panda?
Pete
I still like whomever's suggestion of "Pat".
But I really like Brotherstick for a boy, Robert!
Damn it, people, can't you read? Don't jinx it! You don't want to name your pandas before they're hatched.
Washington's favorite spring sport gets going at last! Will there be another baby panda? Previous years' record stands at 25-1, so the odds aren't in our favor unless the winning 2005 season showed Team Panda how to do it right.
How will Tai Shan react to a little brother or sister? Enquiring minds and all that.
I just figured out this year's Halloween costume. I'll wear a panda costume with paper question marks taped all over it and scream at people to get money from the government to go to college or start a business. Then I'll zoom away in my yellow VW Bug.
i agree, i liked the "pat" suggestion a few weeks back.
if it is a false pregnancy, however, who will be the first to say, "i can't believe it's not butter"?
How about this deal, DC gets statehood, but loses the National Zoo and has to fund its own zoo with its own tax revenue...like every other state.
what?
SURPRISE!!! BUTTERSTICKS!!!
Uh, SWester you are about as wrong at you can get about how other Zoos are funded...
Zoos througout this country are funded by a variety of sources ranging from city funding, state funding, federal funding to private and corporate funding.
For instance: Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, etc. funded by the Wildlife Conservation Society, not NYC. Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, privately funded, Lincoln Park also in Chicago, publicly funded.
Frankly, the "National" Zoo may be a better zoo if it were not under the auspices of the Smithsonian and therefore limited it's ability to function as a world class zoo by the actions of Congress.
It's a boy!! Tai-Bro
It's a girl!!! Tai-She