Bai Yun, the San Diego Zoo's female panda, just thinks she's soooooo great, doesn't she. She's been popping out babies left and right over the last few years, already having had four to our own Mei Xiang's one, and then just to pour salt in the wound, she had to go and have a fifth one yesterday. Well la-di-dah, San Diego. Aren't you friggin' special. more ›

A begrudging Mazel Tov from DCist to the city of San Diego is in order, as the Associated Press reports that Bai Yun, the San Diego Zoo's female panda, is definitely pregnant. Bai Yun has been put on "24-hour birth watch" after officials detected a fetus and fetal heartbeat through ultrasound images on July 18. More tests confirmed the pregnancy and the zoo made an official announcement yesterday. As you'll no doubt recall, Mei Xiang,... more ›

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... more ›

If you're anything like us, you've been enjoying bimonthly "FONZ Flash" emails from the zoo ever since you coughed up the money for a one-year membership just to get primo Butterstick viewing tickets last summer. It's nice to hear about upcoming lectures, new exhibits and the comings-and-goings of the animals in the collection. But yesterday's newsletter contained some... disconcerting news (which we were shocked to find made the rounds last week — without spurring outrage).... more ›

The National Zoo conducted their second exam on the as-yet unnamed panda cub yesterday, confirming not only that the baby is indeed a boy (not evident from the picture -- that's its tail, silly) but that panda moms love their babies. Hearing the little guy squeal made Mei Xiang

become agitated and run around the enclosure. She defecated and also vocalized, producing sharp high-pitched barks. After was reunited with her cub and had the cub in her arms, Mei settled down quickly.