Skip to footer

National treasure: Panda cub named Bao Bao

The National Zoo has named its female giant panda cub Bao Bao, or 'treasure.' The cub was born on August 23, to mother Mei Xiang. 

|
Abby Wood/Smithsonian National Zoo/AP
Giant panda cub, Bao Bao is measured at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington Nov. 29. The zoo named the cub Bao Bao after receiving more than 123,000 votes from the public.

| Washington

The Smithsonian's National Zoo is naming its female giant panda cub Bao Bao after receiving more than 123,000 votes online from the public to help give its new cub an identity.

Bao Bao, which means "treasure" or "precious," is only the second surviving cub born at the National Zoo since the first pandas arrived in 1972 to commemorate President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China. Pandas have remained a happy symbol of diplomacy between the two countries.

Panda mother Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) has been caring for her cub in the panda den since she was born Aug. 23. Bao Bao will have her public unveiling early in 2014. Mei Xiang's only other surviving cub, a male named Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and was returned to China in 2010 for breeding. Male panda Tian Tian (tee-YEN tee-YEN) is the father of both cubs.

The zoo asked the public to vote for one of five names for the new cub. The others were Bao Bao (bow-BOW), Ling Hua (ling-HWA), Long Yun (long-YOON), Mulan (moo-LAHN) and Zhen Bao (jen-BAO). The names were submitted by Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai, U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke, panda keepers at theNational Zoo, the fundraising group Friends of the National Zoo and the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.

The chosen name was submitted by Friends of the National Zoo.

Giant pandas are considered critically endangered in the wild, and breeding them in captivity has proved difficult, especially in Washington. Zoo scientists have made numerous attempts to artificially inseminate its female panda because the pair failed to breed naturally.

The new birth has given zoo scientists renewed confidence in the Washington pandas' ability to help grow the panda species.

Last year, Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub, but it died after six days because its lungs hadn't fully developed and weren't sending enough oxygen to its liver. The zoo's first panda couple, Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, had five cubs during the 1980s, though none lived more than a few days.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to National treasure: Panda cub named Bao Bao
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1201/National-treasure-Panda-cub-named-Bao-Bao
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe