Panda Blogging

Ygelsias is back on the Panda blogging after missing sad panda news last week discussed below. From Matt, Mei Xiang one of the pandas at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. is experiencing elevated hormone levels and may be pregnant. Matt Ponders why "the zoo can't determine this with greater degree of certainty." As pointed out in his comments it is most likely due to the panda fetus's tiny size in comparison to the mother panda. I am not positive but this would probably require anesthesia which could be dangerous to the mother panda and any possible fetus. I assume they are able to measure hormone levels from the female panda's urine without any sort of invasive procedure.

The sad story is of the first captive born panda released into the wild died most likely after being attacked by other pandas. Ygelsias missed the boat on this one as far as I can tell, but maybe he was just scared of linking to Al Jazeera which is curiously the first item when one googles "wild panda died."

He was trained to live in the wild, but it seems he could not fit in.

Xiang Xiang, the world's first lab-bred panda, lasted less than a year living the wild life.

The five-year-old male was found dead on snow-covered ground on February 19, apparently after falling to his death, reports in Chinese state media said.

His body was found in a mountainous area of China's Sichuan province more than a month after scientists last picked up a trace from the global positioning tracking collar he was wearing, Xinhua news agency said.

Flickr is being blocked where I am right now by an internet filter, so i'll add a cute panda photo later.