Peaceful Panda Cub Debuts in Atlanta
December 03, 2010
Giant Panda mom, Lun-Lun, gave birth to a tiny pink cub on November 3rd at Zoo Atlanta. At that time, the cub was hairless and helpless, like all panda cubs at that age. One month later, the cub is hairy but still helpless as we see in this special behind-the-scenes veterinary check-up video below. Heather Baker Roberts, Carnivore Keeper II, gave a detailed update yesterday on the Zoo's panda blog. "The cub is becoming more active each day. When Lun Lun leaves him alone, he wiggles and exercises his muscles. He works one back leg as if to scratch himself or he manages to turn himself around on the floor.
(continued from above "Most importantly, he can right himself when he ends up on his back. Just last week, if he accidentally rolled onto his back while Lun Lun was away, he was very unhappy – flailing his legs in the air and squawking loudly until Lun Lun rushed back and picked him up. He was like a stranded tortoise! But now he has developed enough muscle strength to roll himself over onto his stomach fairly quickly when he is supine. I am actually surprised he can roll over at all since his belly is so fat, but I have seen him do it several times in recent days. This is a big step for the little guy!"