August 13, 2008
No Panda, Plenty of Cry
The fickle nature of the giant panda's reproductive system has foiled us once again. The National Zoo gave up the ghost this morning and announced that Mei Xiang's latest maybe-pregnancy won't result in an adorable panda cub for us to hug and squeeze and love forever.
The Zoo said Mei either lost a developing fetus or once again experienced a "pseudopregnancy." From the release:
In a pseudopregnancy, an animal's hormonal changes and behaviors are identical to a pregnancy, but no conception occurred. Fetal loss during early pregnancy is a common occurrence in mammals, but the reasons for this phenomenon are poorly understood.
We say: not only is this sad, it's practically a pandamergency. Tai Shan is only on loan from China until 2009 at this point. Hopefully the country will agree to extend Butterstick's stay for another two years, but there's no guarantees. With this latest news of another failed pregnancy for Mei Xiang, we could well be facing a panda shortage next summer, something we're sure none of you want to experience. Just imagine the long lines down the street to get access to the scarce panda commodity. It simply won't stand.
Here's hoping Mei Xiang has better luck conceiving next time.
Photo of Mei Xiang by RoxandaBear
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Personally, I look forward to when this town is free of pandas. There are thousands of species in the world, and all that this city seems to care about is the fattest, slowest one.
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NNNNNNOOOOOOO!
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Why don't we start idolizing a species we don't have to pay danegeld to a dictatorship to obtain? Get a few Koalas instead why not?
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They may be fat and they may be slow, but they are seemingly huggable, that is until you have felt their very coarse hair. Butterstick is a balla though.
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I think this is a subtle way of Darwin saying this existence thing is just not working out.
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it's practically a pandamergency.
does a pandamergency escalate into pandamonium?
Is there a scale?
P1: Pandamergency
P2: Pandamonium
P3: Pandademic
P4: Pandapocalypse!
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it's a shame this doesn't happen to 15 year old girls from gloucester or other people generally who shouldnt be preggers
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Fake fireworks, fake 16 year old gymnasts, fake opening ceremony singers, now fake pregnancy!?
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Shoulda seen the feature on pandas on the NBC Olympics broadcast last night. There were buttersticks all over the place.
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extinction is the rule, survival the exception. Good luck, Pandas.
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I humbly propose that we go pandajack SFist. They've got pandas out the ying yang, damn them.
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P5 Pandageddon
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According to this 'pseudopregnancy' you can be just 'a little pregnant' .. now if you excuse me I have to step into my time machine and resolve a argument with my girlfriend from sophmore year.
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Of course what the zoo really needs is a man to go in and 'finish the job' .. we need someone who lives in the area, a champion lover who has plenty of free time. He needs finely tuned animal instincts, like something half monkey-half man. But where would the zoo find such a creature?
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Disco Stu, sorry but extinction is NOT the rule. Extinction is mostly caused by us humans overpopulating the world. Yes, some species are naturally weeded out, but we are referring to pandas here, and WE are the pandas problem. Nothing natural about it. Some of the ignorant comments here make me wish another species to come along and put us in our place before there is NOTHING left of this world!
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Danaleigh, my point is life is fragile. The scientific record shows that far more species are extinct than extant. And making it on to the list of those that exist is actually quite rare. You might not have to worry about another species coming along to get us, we'll prob'ly do ourselves in before that.
And you're right that currently humans are contributing to more extinction. But, come on, Pandas?! Kiss her like you mean it! As in the words of Denis Leary if they won't even shag to save their own species...
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To add to Disco,
There is a lot of evidence that even without humans, the evolution of Pandas indicate that they were marching down the fast lane to extinction naturally: For instance:
(1) Their genitals do not match in size
(2) The males do not instinctively know how to mate
(3) Females seldom come on 'heat'
(4) Females show no signs for males to know they are on 'heat'
(5) The females are irritated by the advances of males
(6) The pair often end up fighting each other causing injury
In fact, one can argue that science is really the only reason these pups are still around.
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RJ, I think you'd be interested in reading this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26036245/
It explains the mysteries of how pandas survive in the wild and why they've evolved the way they have.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_extinction
Fun read. Basically don't watch too many Michael Bay movies.
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Yeah, I didn't have my Carl Sagan on me to quote from. By the newly printed material from his Gifford Lectures is a really good read.
Pandas. Hmm... Well they're lucky they're cute. That's really the only reason we care. Just look at what we've done (irrationally) to sharks. Sure they've got the pointy teeth. But we've been much worse to their population than they've been to ours. And sharks are actually EFFECTIVE at surviving...
99.9% of all species that have existed are now extinct. I'm not saying EVERYthing's going to go. But we will eventually. Just because our society feeds us anthropomorphism, doesn't mean nature's enclined to agree.
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(1) Their genitals do not match in size
(2) The males do not instinctively know how to mate
(3) Females seldom come on 'heat'
(4) Females show no signs for males to know they are on 'heat'
(5) The females are irritated by the advances of males
(6) The pair often end up fighting each other causing injury
This reminds me - you may not know it, but LNS are getting their own reality tv show.
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Disco Stu, I totally agree with you there, life is fragile, but you were implying or outright saying that the pandas endangerment as a species is completely natural. It is not. I am no authority on this for sure,but from I have learned it is mostly from loss of habitat that they are endangered. As for their reproduction or lack of it, they fare much better when they are left on their own in the wild in their natural environment than in captivity. And yes, for sure we will do ourselves in, we are well on that track!
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I am so pseudosad!!!
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I am curious as to how their genitals do not match in size. I mean there are a lot of humans that don't match up either, yet somehow, they still manage to get it on or just move on to someone that fits just right.
Maybe we should send her to San Diego for a vaca since the San Diego pandas are far more fertile than here. It is probably all that sun and the beach life.
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@RJ - Sounds like you're describing my last relationship. Wait, a minute... Is that you sweetie-pop?? Come 'on, give blittle some sugar, babbeh. I promise to leave you alone until next year.