Chinese Automaker 'Adopts' Panda Tai Shan

Washington's Tai Shan and Atlanta's Mei Lan moving to China to breed

(NEWSER) - Washington will bid its favorite panda adieu on Feb. 4, when Tai Shan leaves for China to breed, accompanied by Zoo Atlanta's Mei Lan. “It's like sending off your own child to college,” Tai Shan's fan club founder tells the Post , adding that fan club members have raised $10,000 to “adopt” Tai Shan, born at the National Zoo four years ago, and in return, “They'll send us updates and photographs.” His farewell party is Saturday, with Feb. 3 his last day on view at the zoo. More»

(NEWSER) - Giant panda Mei Xiang, whose first cub became an international superstar, is not pregnant, National Zoo officials said today. The panda, who was artificially inseminated in January, experienced her third false pregnancy in as many years, the Washington Post reports. Four-year-old Tai Shan, Mei Xiang's only cub to survive infancy, is scheduled to be handed over to the Chinese government later this year. More»

Capital glum as Tai Shan's time runs out

(NEWSER) - The panda bear once called Washington's most important citizen by its mayor will soon be departing the capital for a homeland he's never seen. Tai Shan, born at the National Zoo in 2005, has always been Chinese property, and zoo officials are expected to announce his imminent return to China at a press conference today, the Washington Post reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Tai Shan, the giant panda who captivated the world as a cub, turned 4 today and celebrated with a huge birthday cake only an animal could love. The three-tiered concoction was a frozen medley of water, beet juice, shredded beets, and bamboo, WTOP reports. Tai Shan, who is now considered a teenager in "bear years," is scheduled to head to China in 2010 under the terms of the breeding program that brought his parents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, to the US from their native land. More»

For so many reasons, these cute bears should probably never have survived

(NEWSER) - Pandas have a lot working against them when it comes to to making babies: a once-yearly ovulation cycle, genetic inbreeding due to a limited captive population, and, apparently, some degree of ineptness at copulation itself. Zoo officials frequently see their excitement crushed by what turn out to be pseudopregnancies, and newborn cubs often don't survive, writes the Washington Post. More»