Giant pandas Mei Xiang, Tian Tian to stay five more years at National Zoo in Washington

Washington's beloved pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, will be allowed to stay at the Smithsonian National Zoo for five more years, Chinese officials announced Wednesday amid a lavish state visit by China's president.

The panda pair will remain in Washington until December 2015 for cooperative research under a five-year, $2.5-million extension of the 10-year, $10-million agreement that expired last month, said China Wildlife Conservation Assn. Secretary Gen. Zang Chunlin.

The announcement came as Chinese President Hu Jintao was in Washington, where he met President Barack Obama at the White House.

Pandas have a long history intertwined with U.S.-China politics. The first panda couple, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, arrived in 1972 as a gift to the American people and lived more than 20 years at the zoo after President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China. Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing produced five cubs, but none of them survived.

"This is a great opportunity for the American people to know more about Chinese culture and this is also an opportunity to advance our friendship and to deepen understanding," Zang said through an interpreter.

Edinburgh Zoo to receive two giant pandas through loan program with China

LONDON — Call it panda politics.

China is sending a pair of giant pandas to the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland as the Asian nation's deputy leader visits the U.K. to boost relations.

Vice Premier Li Keqiang, in London for trade talks with senior British officials, led the signing of the agreement Monday to send the animals to Edinburgh.

A zoo spokeswoman says the male and female pandas are about 7 years old. They will be on a 10-year loan to the zoo and are expected to arrive in the next year from China's Wolong Panda Research Institute.

Li, who is widely expected to succeed Wen Jiabao as China's next premier, is on a four-day visit to Britain to cement trade deals after trips to Spain and Germany.

RELATED PANDA NEWS:

• National Zoo's giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian to have an extended stay in U.S.

• Researchers dressed as giant pandas prepare panda cub for the wild in Chinese reserve

-- Associated Press

Photo: Yangguang, a giant panda at the Wolong Panda Research Institute in China's Sichuan province in an undated photo. Credit: Edinburgh Zoo / Associated Press

National Zoo's giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian to have an extended stay in U.S.

WASHINGTON — Washington's pandas will stay at the National Zoo at least a little while longer.

Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) and Tian Tian (tee-YEN tee-YEN) are on a 10-year, $10-million loan from China that expires at the end this year. The Smithsonian's National Zoo continues to negotiate a new agreement for panda breeding and research.

Zoo spokeswoman Karin Korpowski-Gallo said Wednesday that China has granted a temporary extension for Mei Xiang and Tian Tian to remain until a new agreement is signed. Officials expect one in January.

Pandas have a long history in Washington. The first panda couple, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing (sing-sing), arrived in 1972 after President Nixon's historic visit to China, and lived more than 20 years at the zoo.

RELATED PANDA NEWS:

• Your morning adorable: Vienna zoo's giant panda cub gets a name

• Researchers dressed as giant pandas prepare panda cub for the wild in Chinese reserve

-- Brett Zongker, Associated Press

Photo: Tian Tian, left, and Mei Ziang play in their enclosure at the National Zoo in 2007. Credit: Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press

Your morning adorable: Vienna zoo's giant panda cub gets a name

The giant panda born at Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo in August reached a milestone -- his 100th day -- and received his name in a ceremony held at the zoo on Monday.

His name, chosen by the panda-loving public in an online poll, is Fu Hu, which means "Happy Tiger" in Mandarin. Fu Hu's older brother, who was sent to a panda breeding center in China's Sichuan Province last year, is named Fu Long -- "Happy Dragon."

Fu Hu's parents, mother Yang Yang and father Long Hui, arrived in Vienna in 2003 through a loan program with China. They're scheduled to return to their home country in a few years when that loan expires. Fu Hu will also move to China one day, since the conditions of his parents' loan require any offspring they produce in a foreign zoo to be sent to China when they're old enough.

See more photos of Fu Hu after the jump!

Your morning adorable: Zoo Atlanta's giant panda cub has a checkup

The giant panda cub born last month at Zoo Atlanta continues to grow at a healthy rate, weighing 2.2 pounds and measuring almost 14 inches from nose tip to tail tip during a veterinary examination last week. The cub, a male, is the third offspring for mother Lun Lun and father Yang Yang and the only giant panda born in an American zoo this year. He hasn't yet been given a name.

The cub recently began to crawl, moving around "like a little worm," Joseph T. Svoke, a carnivore keeper at Zoo Atlanta, noted earlier this week. (Keepers post short updates about the cub's progress on the zoo's website just about every day, and panda fans can also tune in to the zoo's online panda cam on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time.)

Mostly, of course, the little guy spends his time eating and sleeping, as all babies should. "His abdomen's really round and full and that's what we really like in a baby," Dr. Hayley Murphy, director of veterinary services at the zoo, told the Associated Press last week. "That just tells us he's eating well and his abdomen's full of milk."

Zoo staffers expect the cub to begin opening his eyes soon. He won't be on display to the public until he's walking on his own, a milestone giant pandas typically reach when they're about 4 months old.

After the jump, see more photos of the cub during his exam last week!

Researchers dressed as giant pandas prepare panda cub for the wild in Chinese reserve

At the Hetaoping Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in China's famous Wolong Nature Reserve, this 4-month-old cub is something of a pioneer, and the human researcher in a panda suit is helping to prepare him for life in the wild.

The captive-bred cub is being prepared for his eventual release through a new program conceived by panda researchers working to increase the endangered species' numbers in the wild.

For the program to be successful, the cub must be prevented from "imprinting" on his human caretakers or developing too much dependence on people. (We wonder if a similar aim could be achieved by allowing the cubs to be raised by dogs trimmed and dyed to resemble pandas.)

The researchers released four pregnant pandas into a protected area monitored by hidden cameras  this year, according to the Telegraph; the cub in the photo above was born to one of those mothers. When the researchers must come into close contact with him -- to take his temperature or give him a veterinary checkup, for example -- they do so only when clad in full-body panda costumes.

If anyone knows where one can fill out an application for panda-costume-wearing cub-sitter, please clue us in! This sounds like the best job in the world, perhaps tied only with Professional Island Caretaker. See more photos of the cub and his fake-panda caretakers after the jump!

Zoo Atlanta's giant panda cub is a male

It's official: The giant panda cub born to Lun Lun at Zoo Atlanta early this month is a male. The cub's sex was determined last week during an examination by the zoo's veterinary team and a visiting expert from the China's Chengdu Panda Base research and breeding center.

The cub weighed about 1 pound, 1 ounce and measured a little over a foot in length, including his tail, at his examination Thursday. The cub, which weighed only about 4 ounces at birth, "is definitely working on growing with how much he is nursing," keeper Kris Gelhardt wrote on Zoo Atlanta's website Monday. "It seems like every time I come back from my weekend he has grown!"

The cub is the third of Lun Lun and partner Yang Yang, who are in Atlanta through a loan program with China. The cub's brother, Xi Lan, born in 2008, still lives at Zoo Atlanta. Sister Mei Lan, born in 2006, moved from Atlanta to China this year along with Tai Shan, a giant panda born at the National Zoo in Washington.

In keeping with Chinese tradition, the cub won't be given a name until he's 100 days old.

RELATED PANDA NEWS:
Your morning adorable: Madrid Zoo's giant panda twins entertain a royal visitor
Giant panda baby boom at Chinese preserve is good news for the endangered species

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: The cub shown Friday. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Your morning adorable: Giant panda holds a stuffed animal, looks darn cute doing it

Few things can match a giant panda in the field of cuteness -- OK, maybe squirmy puppies, koala joeys, fennec foxes and knobby-kneed moose calves come close -- but the panda above seems really determined to send his adorableness into the stratosphere.

How else can one explain the fact that he is not only holding a stuffed animal, but also sticking his tongue out just slightly while doing so?

We can only consider this a challenge to other cute animals, a dare to work harder and be more relentlessly adorable.

Either that, or it's a promotion for the 2010 Asian Games -- and he's holding the mascot -- which kicked off Friday in Guangzhou, China. Athletes from 45 Asian countries and territories are competing in the  event, which concludes Nov. 27.

See another photo after the jump!

Your morning adorable: Madrid Zoo's giant panda twins entertain a royal visitor

Twin giant panda cubs born at the Madrid Zoo in September had a high-profile visitor -- Spain's Queen Sofia -- on Friday.

Queen Sofia held the cubs and even tried her hand at bottle-feeding them.

The cubs, both males, now have their eyes open and are able to turn their heads and crawl, though they're not very steady yet.

They're the first offspring for their mother Hua Zui Ba, who, with partner Bing Xing, arrived in Madrid on a 10-year loan from China in 2007. When the two failed to procreate on their own, their cubs were conceived through artificial insemination. They're the first set of giant panda twins conceived using the method outside of China.

See more photos of Queen Sofia's visit to the panda nursery after the jump!

Zoo Atlanta's giant panda Lun Lun gives birth for third time

ATLANTA — A giant panda gave birth to her third cub Wednesday at Zoo Atlanta, one of only four U.S. zoos that house the endangered animals.

The cub weighed about 4 ounces and was about the size of a cellphone, zoo officials said. Mother panda Lun Lun had been on round-the-clock birth watch since Oct. 22, when an ultrasound confirmed the pregnancy.

The cub, the only giant panda born at a U.S. zoo so far this year, was born at 5:39 a.m. in a specially prepared birthing den, zoo officials said.

Zoo officials probably will get a chance to examine the cub and determine its gender next week after Lun Lun feels comfortable with setting it down, zoo veterinarian Sam Rivera said.

It will take several weeks for the cub to develop its signature black and white fur.

"Lun Lun is an experienced mom. She knows exactly what to do, and she's doing the right thing," Rivera said. He said that although Lun Lun's mammary gland development indicates she's producing milk, he can't be certain yet whether the cub is nursing. "The first week is critical," he said.