Two Can Be Better than One
Posted at 3:45 pm September 2, 2005 by Suzanne HallMany of you may know that ultrasounds confirmed that Bai Yun was pregnant with twins this year. However, only one cub was born to us. We have evidence to suggest that the second baby died in utero, but we don’t yet understand why, two pregnancies in a row, Bai Yun has failed to give birth to twins when we know she was gestating them both at some point. This is no failure in Bai Yun, but rather something we do not understand about pandas, in general.
How many panda moms are actually pregnant with twins at any one time? The number may actually be higher than we once thought. Until recently, we could not use tools like ultrasound to assess whether or not a female was carrying multiple babies. What we did know was that panda mothers frequently gave birth to multiple cubs.
Many years ago, when a captive female gave birth to twins, one was almost certainly doomed to die. Female pandas can only typically care for one cub at a time, so when they give birth to more than one they are unable to keep both alive. Advances in recent years have made it possible for nearly all healthy cubs born to a female to have a good chance of making it. This means the captive population of pandas is experiencing a boom, in that large numbers of cubs that would otherwise have died are now growing up to be healthy bears!
How has this boom been accomplished? First, we must credit the Chinese with their hand-rearing technique. They pioneered the twin-swapping procedure that many of you have heard about. It allows a twin to be pulled into the nursery and be raised for a few days by attentive nursery staff. The second cub remains with mother, getting her nurturing and milk. Every three days or so, the cubs are swapped so that the nursery cub can now spend a few days with its mother, and vice versa. Thus, both cubs benefit from mother’s caress and milk, but mom can devote her resources to one cub at a time in an exclusive fashion- just as it seems she is best suited to do.
Another factor in twin cub survivorship is the recent development of a suitable panda milk formula to be fed to the nursery-housed cubs. A blend of canine and human formula supplements, this milk has proven to be just what the veterinarian ordered to sustain the cubs in between opportunities to “bounce on their momma’s knee.”
One topic of interest in research is how it is that panda females decide which infant they will care for once multiples have been born to them. Do they always choose the firstborn? Do they choose the larger of two cubs? Do they prefer males to females? At this point, we can’t answer these questions for you. But rest assured that one of our goals is to find out!
Suzanne Hall is the panda research technician for the San Diego Zoo’s Office of Giant Panda Conservation.
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September 2nd, 2005 at 4:52 pm
Thanks so much for all the info you have given us these past weeks. I realized the other day that Bai Yun become a mother and a grandmother, just weeks apart. What a deal!
September 2nd, 2005 at 4:58 pm
I was watching the live cam on both the DC and San Diego zoos. Both moms were holding the cubs with their right arms! What a cute sight!
September 2nd, 2005 at 5:23 pm
Your blogs are so interesting. Do you think panda mothers can tell if a cub is a certain gender? I have wondered about this. Wouldn’t that take an amount of reasoning? …. you can’t convince me that some animals (dogs, for instance) cannot reason. In your experience, do you think pandas can?
I admire the panda team so much, and I, like many others, would love to be in your shoes. Thank you for everything.
September 2nd, 2005 at 10:19 pm
Thanks for the great updates on the panda cub and her mother.
Regarding the twin-swapping procedure, does the mother panda notice that she is caring for different cubs at different times, or does she think it is the same cub?
Furthermore, I’m really delighted that the web cams at the San Diego Zoo (Ape, Elephant, Panda and Polar bear) are accessible from other operating systems, such as Linux, and do not merely depend on MS Windows products. Please forward my thanks to people that implented these great web cams!
September 2nd, 2005 at 11:27 pm
Just a quick question for you - Are her eyes open yet? It is hard to tell in the photos. If not, how old are baby pandas when their eyes do finally open.
Thanks, Lisa
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:09 am
Thank you Suzanne for sharing your expertise and all the unanswered questions that your research endeavours to resolve. Congratulations Hua Mei on the birth of her second set of twins within a year, I would expect her to now have a period of time to enjoy her new cubs. Her mom, lovely Bai Yun and her new daughter - is such a credit to all your efforts and must make you all very proud. Are most panda twins ’same sex’ and possibly identical twins, or maybe they are conceived from two separate eggs? Do you think Hua Mei came into oestrus this year because her cubs were removed early? Household pets, such as cats, often come into oestrus early if they lose a litter. Obviously a very different species but Mother Nature works her own magic. The veterinarians and staff all perform your own kind of magic with the pandas in your care and it is much appreciated by all Panda Cam viewers.
Kind regards….. Hazel Turnbull
September 3rd, 2005 at 6:35 am
I have been watching mother and baby for 3 weeks now and have learnt so much about pandas from this website. I come home from work and log on to see how they are and i love looking at the other webcams as well. Keep up the good work, I’ll be watching…
September 3rd, 2005 at 10:25 am
I have loved Pandas since seeing them at the National Zoo in the early 80’s. You are doing a wonderful job and I truly envy you the joy of watching them grow & thrive…I breed Old English Sheepdogs and with large litters, the co-breeder and I have had tremendous success supplementing feedings with of all things “goats milk” Keep up all the wonderful narratives and if you need a “panda sitter”, please let me know. Lynne Levine
September 3rd, 2005 at 5:11 pm
I love these daily commentaries. In fact, I named my new cat Panda in honor of Hua Mei. I have some questions I hope someone can address. 1. Do mother Pandas recognize their young when they leave the nest so to speak and go out on their own? If she saw Hua Mei would Bai Yun realize it was her baby? 2. Will Panda moms adopt a baby thats mother has died? 3. Are father Pandas a donor only or will they too recognize a baby as their baby panda? 4. I have noticed your Panda setting is much different than the National Zoo. Which is more closely like their environment in China. 5. Poor baby right now looks so homely. Can you put up a more flattering picture of her?
Thanks!
September 4th, 2005 at 6:38 am
Like Tei, above, I have been wondering about the cub-swapping process. Surely the hand-reared cub wouldn’t smell the same as the one with the mother. Even if the keepers wear surgical gloves, wouldn’t the cub then smell something like the gloves, or like the inside air? Or do pandas not have a keen sense of smell? I am wondering if the mothering instinct is simply triggered by the sound of a hungry and/or lonely cub? Meanwhile, I love to see Bai’s interaction with her new daughter. The sight of them together, one so big and one so small, is amazing.
September 4th, 2005 at 9:02 am
I love seeing the baby but you should sometimes show the other pandas.
September 4th, 2005 at 9:03 am
Hello again,
Thank you all so much for all of the fascinating facts you share with us. I am virtually housebound and coming here each day - and night - gives me so much pleasure. I feel like a proud Mum or Grandma, neither of which I am in real life hee hee !!
Thanks once again. Must get back to watching Mum and Baby now.
Valerie xx
September 4th, 2005 at 11:39 am
Your Panda Cam has brought hours of smiles and laughter to myself and several friends. We would like to suggest that when it comes time to name “our little girl” that you name her something that means happiness, smiles, laughter, etc in Chinese. Thank you again for the bright spot you have brought into so many lives. Keep up the excellent work!!
September 4th, 2005 at 12:03 pm
Thanks much for the continueous updates. What a great job to have. I have one question in response to your post…
How do you get the baby panda from the mother and replace it with the other??? From watching the Panda (here and at the National Zoo site), they can go quite awhile without leaving the nest or the baby.I’m facinated by this part of it and hope you are able to explain this…keep up the great work…lisa
September 4th, 2005 at 6:16 pm
I have a question if anyone could address. After the 12-year research loan of two giant pandas, Bai Yun and Shi Shi do the two if them go back to china or do the two of them and there offspring go to china?
September 5th, 2005 at 5:58 am
i have been watching the little female panda and the little male panda in DC . DO both zoos communicate with each other, work together etc.???
September 5th, 2005 at 7:42 am
Just curious about the panda’s tail. It starts out so long and then eventually seems like the panda grows while the tail shortens… Strange why the tail is so long to begin with. Any info on why this is? Any other animals that this happens to?
September 6th, 2005 at 5:07 am
I imagine when they find a few mins.to spare a member of the Panda team will give an official reply to ‘Blog 15′.
Meanwhile I would suggest that on Panda Cam front page you click on the pics of the various panda’s where you will find write ups. You will discover that Shi Shi arrived with Bai Yun in 1996 and he returned to China in January ‘03. Shortly after he was replaced by lovely Gao Gao in January ‘03, who fathered Mei Sheng who was born on August 19th ‘03. To knowledge via watching Panda Cam any cubs born at SD would normally return to China when they are approx.3yrs, only an official member of the Panda Team would know of any possible ‘official’ date of Bai Yun’s return to China.
I hope the above assists…….
Hazel Turnbull