Giant Panda Mei Xiang's Second Cub is Stillborn

A day after the Smithsonian's National Zoo celebrated the birth of a giant panda baby cub,  zoo authorities revealed that the Mother panda Mei Xiang gave birth to another cub that was stillborn.

A day after the arrival of the first cub, Mei Xiang gave birth to a stillborn cub Saturday evening at 7.29 p.m, according to the zoo officials

Mei Xiang was seen grooming her stillborn cub for 17 minutes after which it fell onto the floor and lay motionless. Unlike the first cub who was squealing moments after its birth, the second cub lay still without making any sound, according to the Smithsonian's National Zoo.

The motionless cub was later retrieved by the zoo staff with the aid of a grabbing device. The cub had developmental abnormalities and wasn't formed completely.

"The 15-year-old Mei Xiang, while holding onto the firstborn cub, groomed the stillborn cub for 17 minutes before letting it down," Baker-Masson said. "The fact that Mei never set down the first cub shows us, it demonstrates that she's a terrific mom."

The zoo officials are planning to conduct a necropsy that will provide them with additional information about the death of the endangered giant panda cub.

Most of the pandas give birth to twins. The same was expected from Mei Xiang who gave birth to the first cub last Friday at 5.32 p.m. two hours after her water broke. The officials expected the arrival of the other cub five hours after the birth of the first cub but that did not happen. And an expert from China also confirmed then that Mei Xiang would not deliever a second cub.

But to everyone's surprise, she gave birth to a second cub the next day, which sadly was stillborn.

 Generally giant pandas give birth to twins and mostly only one survives in the wild. The mother picks the stronger cub and the weaker one left on its own, fails to survive.

The panda team conducted the first neonatal exam on the first cub and found the cub to be robust, healthy, active and vibrant. The bright and healthy cub with a shade of pink weighs 137 grams ( 4.8 ounces). It had a steady heart rate. The vets could listen to the tiny cub's breathing sounds from both lungs indicating the cub is nursing and digesting well.

Only after the three weeks the zoo officials will know the sex of the unnamed cub as well its paternity.