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