New York zoo has rare red panda birth

Meghin Delaney and Steve Reill | (Binghamton, N.Y.) Press & Sun Bulletin

Show Caption Hide Caption Binghamton Zoo welcomes baby red panda The Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park in Binghamton, N.Y., welcomed a baby red panda to the zoo July 25, 2013, the first of its species born there.

Red panda boy was born June 18 at Binghamton%2C N.Y.%2C zoo

When he was born%2C he was about the size of a stick and a half of butter

He was one of two cubs born to Mei-Li%3B the second one did not survive

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — When a baby red panda opened his eyes for the first time last week, a wave of excitement spread through the zoo here.

Since Zhin-Li was born June 18, the cub has grown from 163 grams — about a third of a pound — to 960 grams, just a bit more than 2 pounds. Officials at the Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park publicly unveiled him Thursday, waiting about five weeks to make an announcement because they wanted to ensure that the cub, about as big as a stick and a half of butter at birth, and his first-time mom were healthy.

"It's a very big milestone in his life and our care of him," said Dave Orndorff, the zoo's general curator. "Every day we get a little more and more excited about his growth and his progress." He is the first of his species to be born at the zoo, the country's fifth oldest.

Though his eyes are open now, Zhin-Li needs another few weeks before he gains his footing and seven months before he reaches adult size, Orndorff said.

"He's sort of stumbling around in the nest box," he said. "He tries to crawl a little bit on the shavings on the bottom of the box."

Red pandas, which are an endangered species, are distantly related to the black and white giant pandas. They typically grow to the size of a house cat — between 7 and 14 pounds — and have a tail reminiscent of a raccoon.

Like giant pandas, they like to eat bamboo, berries, blossoms and bird eggs. Red pandas live in the mountains of Nepal; northern Myanmar, also known as Burma; and central China, spending most of their lives including sleeping in trees. They are most active at night.

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Zhin-Li's human caregivers and his mother, Mei-Li, quickly bonded with the cub in his first month of life. Zhin-Li was born and bred at this zoo in upstate New York. His father is Xiao-Li.

"From nutritional requirements to just learning how to be a little red panda, he has a great teacher in his mom," said Steve Contento, the zoo's executive director.

Another cub born with Zhin-Li did not survive the birthing, Orndorff said.

Zoos in North America have about 175 red pandas in zoos and only 60 of the exact kind found at the Binghamton Zoo. The animal is an endangered species with fewer than 10,000 left worldwide.

"As an organization, we look at what are the animals that need help and what animals can we help," Orndorff said.

The first month of Zhin-Li's life was mixed with excitement and anxiety.

Mei-Li gave birth in a nesting box outside, but zoo officials wanted the cub inside a climate-controlled building. So they wouldn't disturb the new relationship Mei-Li was building with her son, zookeepers would move the nesting box no more than 3 feet at a time toward the building when the new mother stepped away to get food.

Zookeepers feed the red pandas twice a day, bringing them leafy pellets, fresh grapes, chopped up apples and bamboo. Mei-Li is eating extra bamboo since she's nursing.

Now Mei-Li and her cub are in a nesting box inside the red panda building, hidden from public view. But visitors can glimpse the pair via a TV camera installed outside the building.