National Zoo: newborn panda cub dies

The National Zoo says one of its newborn pandas died on Wednesday. The other newborn is alive and strong. Zookeepers and veterinarians did not detect any obvious health problems with the deceased cub, but they will be conducting a necropsy (an animal autospy) to try and find out what caused its death. The cub was small, but still within the normal size range for panda cubs. This is the mother Mei Xiang’s third lost cub, and the surviving newborn is her third living child. The deceased cub died after its mother stopped feeding it. Normally when pandas have twins, they only nurse one of the cubs and allow the other to die. The zookeepers tried to alternate the two cubs so they would both have time to nurse, but Mei Xiang would not let them.