Gothamist's head is about to explode, because the San Diego Zoo has just confirmed that Bai Yun has given birth! Bai Yun has been the most productive panda mom in America, as she's given birth to Hua Mei (who later had twins after watching panda porn) and Mei Sheng (although zookeepers weren't sure which male was the father). Gothamist will now have to visit San Diego Zoo again, now that the new Panda Research Station can hold up to six pandas. Six! Gothamist must start our letter...no, email campaign to bring pandas to NYC now! more ›

Spring may be 11 days away, but for the various panda zookeepers in the United States, it's soon becoming time for the pandas to mate. The pandas at DC's National Zoo and the (Atlanta's) Atlanta Zoo are getting ready to get down. If the animals do not successfully mate, the zoos may try artificial insemination to get that increase-the-visitors-by- the-tenfold baby panda. Gothamist has extreme panda envy, and we'd probably back any political candidate who would endeavor to bring pandas to New York. more ›

Thanks to the nice people at the zoo's publicity department, Gothamist got a chance to speak with zoo keeper Kim Bacon, who has been at the San Diego Zoo working with the pandas since 1998. Some fun things we learned about adult pandas Bai Yun and Gao Gao and baby cub Mei Sheng: more ›

Gothamist has the best readers ever: We received multiple emails asking why we hadn't posted about the exciting news coming from San Diego. Yes, the news that Bai Yun the panda is pregnant...with twins! And in a plot twist worthy of a soap opera, zoo keepers aren't sure who the father is - they inseminated her on two occasions with the sperm of two different pandas, Shi Shi, who is now in China, and Gao Gao, the panda male currently in San Diego. Truthfully, Gothamist was wary of posting about it is because panda pregnancies are very delicate, especially pregnancy with twins, and we didn't want to get too excited about it. From our panda knowledge, one twin tends to be ignored as the panda mother can only pay attention to one. But the San Diego Zoo is a top notch facility, and we're sure that as we speak, they are trying to force Bai Yun into bed rest with tons of bamboo and carrots. See for yourself with the San Diego Zoo Panda Cam. more ›

for me.
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