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Overheard in D.C.: Careful What You Wish For
Woe is all of us this morning, as the National Zoo has officially announced that Mei Xiang is not really pregnant after all. Real panda pregnancies are notoriously difficult to diagnose, and this time, unlike two years ago, the hormonal spike recently tracked in the mama panda was a symptom of a false pregnancy. Sniff.
This makes Mei Xiang's fourth pseudopregnancy. She had three before giving birth to Butterstick (aka Tai Shan), her only cub and the apple of Washington's eye. This year Mei Xiang was inseminated with semen from Gao Gao, a giant panda in the San Diego Zoo, instead of Tian Tian, Butterstick's dad. At least we can take some solace that DCist Tom will be able to sleep better tonight knowing that Washington panda sperm is indeed superior to that of Southern California.
The question now, at least until the next time Mei Xiang can be artificially inseminated, is will the cuteness of Butterstick be enough to sustain us? He may not be as little as he used to be (like in this photo from Feb. 2006), but the answer, at least for as long as we can keep him out of Chinese hands, is of course! The furball has our unconditional love, whether he's an only child for the rest of his life, or a proud big brother sometime in the future.
Photo by somesai
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Woo Hoo!! Tai Shan shall continue to be The One. Sorry that we won't see another panda cub this year, but there's always 2008!
but, can she get pumpkins tickets?
Can we stop with this idiotic "butterstick" thing? I'm not sure if it was ever funny, but if it was, that stopped a long time ago.
knut is better.
So the male panda inseminated her with his gao gao?
Do pandas have any instinctual drive to procreate. I mean, what else do they have to do all day. it's like the pandas aren't even trying. How about we save a species that's willing to work a little harder.
Where the results broadcasted from the set of the Maury Povich show?
Unlike the previous guest, I applaud whoever came up with this headline.
Maybe it'd be a more constructive use of time to just mess with the Pandas' brains a little and make them more eager to have sex. I mean good god, it's like they're aroused only by the notion of their own impending extinction.