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Giant Panda At National Zoo Gives Birth To A Cub

Mei Xiang, the female giant panda at the Washington National Zoo, gave birth to a cub on Saturday.

Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated in late April, and had been monitored since then for signs of successful conception. The zoo first detected signs of the pregnancy in July and reported the possible pregnancy on August 10.

Pandas are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, and it can be difficult to tell when a female panda is truly pregnant or just experiencing a pseudopregnancy.

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Mei Xiang went into labor on Saturday, and the cub was born at 5:34 p.m.

The birth was broadcast live on the internet, on the zoo's Panda Cam.

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