Red panda born at Ft. Wayne zoo

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo released pictures of a red panda cub Friday that was born on May 31 to first-time mother Xiao, age two and her mate, Junjie, age three.

The cub is one of two in the litter. The second did not survive.

An endangered species, red pandas are difficult to breed and rear in captivity, according to the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo. About half of all cubs die within 30 days of birth. Only a few dozen red panda cubs are born in United States zoos each year.

This is the first red panda birth since the zoo began exhibiting red pandas in 1997.

“We are very excited about this birth and we’re cautiously optimistic about the cub’s future,” said zoo keeper Helena Lacey, who is the red pandas’ primary caretaker. “But we know that these next few weeks are critical to the cub’s survival.”

Contact with Xiao and her cub, who weighs just under five ounces, is extremely limited to minimize stress on the mother and improve the cub’s odds of survival. For now, the pathway in front of the red panda exhibit is closed to zoo guests.

Zoo staff has observed Xiao carrying her baby among several nest boxes in the exhibit, which is a normal behavior. The cub was removed from the nest for a brief exam Thursday, who squealed and appeared strong and healthy.

The sex of the cub has not yet been determined.

Red panda cubs are born blind and deaf. The mother spends nearly all her time nursing and grooming her cubs during the first week. The cubs remain in the nest until they are about three months old.

“If the cub survives, zoo guests are not likely to see the cub out in the exhibit for several weeks or months,” said Lacey.
The breeding of red pandas is overseen by the Species Survival Plan (SSP), a program of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA). The goal of the SSP is to maximize genetic diversity in captive populations of endangered animals.

Red pandas are native to the forested foothills of the Himalaya Mountains in China and Nepal, where they feed primarily on bamboo. Though they share a name with the famed black-and-white giant pandas, the two are not closely related. The name “panda” comes from the Nepalese word ponya, which means “bamboo-eater.”