Babies pandas of the zoo of Beauval: the first-born is dead but the second is in "perfect health"

[Dalia]

Bonjour, It is a first in France.
Published on 04/08/2017

Two baby pandas were born on August 4th at the Beauval zoo (Loir-et-Cher). Huan Huan is still very busy with one of his babies, born in second position. "" Very weak, the first-born was unfortunately deceased despite all the care provided by our teams, helped by the Chinese caretakers.
Born at 22:18, the firstborn was immediately dismissed by his mother in favor of his twin born at 22:32. Guided by his instinct, Huan Huan "spontaneously chose the most vigorous, as pandas mothers do in nature," said Rodolphe Delord, director of the zoo. She licked her little one, taking it gently in her paws in a very maternal gesture as she had previously done for the firstborn.
"Our teams have done the maximum"
The first baby "was too weak to survive. The Chinese nurses, who have the experience, have seen it right away," said the director of the zoo. Abandoned by his mother, he was immediately placed in an incubator. Placed on a pink terry towel, a little in the same tone as her skin totally naked, the healers tried in vain to warm it with a hair dryer. "Our veterinary teams have done their utmost to bring it back," according to Rodolphe Delord. Suffering from breathing difficulties, the firstborn died shortly after 11:30 pm.

Images de la naissance des deux bébés pandas au zoo de Beauval (Loir-et-Cher), le 4 août 2017. (GUILLAUME SOUVANT / AFP)





The second baby panda is on the other hand in "perfect health": placed in an incubator about twenty minutes after its birth to clean the cord, make its first saddles and give it colostrum, the precious first milk secreted by the udders after giving birth , He was then returned to his mother who claimed him, clinging to the bars of his box.
Babies of one hundred grams
Roses, hairless, pandas babies weigh a little over a hundred grams when their mother, aged nine, reaches 115 kg. The newborn - a male - weighs 142.4 grams, or 21.4 grams more than his twin at birth, said the veterinary chief of the zoo, Baptiste Mulot.
This birth is also a diplomatic event: according to custom, if everything goes well, Brigitte Macron will be the godmother of the two pandas babies, who will return to China within three years, Will be weaned.

Bébés pandas du zoo de Beauval : le premier-né est mort mais le second est en "parfaite santé"

 

[Dalia]

Six questions about the birth of pandas at the Beauval zoo
The female panda Huan Huan, resident of the zoo of Beauval (Loir-et-Cher), gave birth to twins. A rare event in France.

Huan Huan, la femelle panda du zoo de Beauval, à Saint-Aignan (Loir-et-Cher), le 26 juillet 2017. (GUILLAUME SOUVANT / AFP)

It was a double birth very awaited: Huan Huan, the female panda of the zoo of Beauval, gave birth, Friday August 4th. An event for the caretakers who watch it 24 hours a day thanks to five cameras and a microphone.
It must be said that births are relatively rare in these animals, threatened with extinction. And that Beauval is, moreover, the only French zoological park to host pandas. Franceinfo answers six questions about this event.
Is breeding pandas difficult?
There are many conditions for giant pandas to reproduce: "The female is only disposed for three days a year and can fertilize only one day or even a few hours," explains La Croix Baptiste Mulot, veterinarian and manager Research at the Beauval Zoo.


Moreover, Le Monde reports that males have difficulty discerning when the female is in heat and that the sexual act is often too fast for it to be fertilized. In the wild, in China, breeding is a feat: pandas reach sexual maturity around the age of 6, live alone and meet at the time of the heat, according to Baptiste Mulot.
How did the zoo keepers do to allow breeding?
In March, the male Yuan Zi - "son of the one with the round head", in Chinese - was placed in the same enclosure as the female Huan Huan. The two pandas were loaned by China to the zoo de Beauval in 2012 for a ten-year term. But the meeting was unsuccessful: "In March, we knew that Huan Huan was fertile because of the urine catch. At that time, we put him in the presence of Yuan Zi, but they did not succeed 'Mate,' explains Delphine Delord, Director of Communications at Beauval, in the World.
"The male did not know how to do it, he tried, but he did not insist too much, he went back to eat his bamboo," explains Bleu Rodolphe Delord, director of the zoo. The experts carried out an artificial insemination, which had already been the case last year. But Huan Huan had made a false gestation.
Why was the pregnancy discovered so late?
Huan Huan was inseminated in March. The zoo knew only on July 26 that she was expecting a baby. This late discovery is due to several reasons. The panda has the particularity of being able to block its pregnancy for 1 to 4 months so that the birth occurs in the summer, according to Dr. Mulot. One way for the female to ensure longer and warmer days, and the presence of more bamboo (her main food) at the birth of her children. Huan Huan therefore waited patiently in mid-July to break out of this blocking period, called embryonic diapause.

When the female begins pregnancy, the fetus develops very quickly. "[Gestation] lasts fifty days," explains Jérôme Pouille, the world ambassador for giant pandas, at 20 minutes, but the embryo develops mainly in the last few days before it is only a few centimeters and is not easy to see at ultrasound. "
Veterinarians had a chip in their ears because of a change of habit in the female panda: "She had a hormone peak, slept all the time, ate much less, no longer wanted to leave her night lodge, Explains Delphine Delord to the World. It was not yet known whether it was a gestation or a false pregnancy, as it did in 2016. "
An ultrasound raised the doubt, not without surprise: Huan Huan has not one, but two small pandas in his belly.

Why does the mother risk giving up one of the twins?
Except that the female is able to raise only one small at a time. In nature, it focuses on the stronger of the two newborns. "By raising both, she would run the risk of lacking energy and jeopardizing her life and those of her infants," explains Jérôme Pouille. Already, on Friday evening, the mother only looked after the second baby, the one in better shape.
Out of the question, for the zoo de Beauval, to abandon one of the pandas to his fate. "We are going to entrust the newborn babies alternately every two hours so that each one receives the first milk, the colostrum, rich in antibodies which defend them against the infections. The rest of the time, they will be put in a heating incubator," explains Baptiste Mulot in La Croix.
Is the species endangered?
The giant panda, considered a national treasure in China, is actually in danger. The country is home to 1864 individuals, according to the latest census conducted in 2015. It is listed on the World Conservation Red List (IUCN), the world's most comprehensive inventory of endangered species. The state of biodiversity.
But China is multiplying efforts to save this species. Le Monde reports that their population has increased by 17% in ten years, through the implementation of conservation programs and nature reserves.
Where are the little pandas going to live?
To save the pandas, China has set up a system of sponsorships: it lends, for a period of ten years, a male and female panda to a foreign zoo. In exchange, in addition to finances, the little ones of the couple return to China after three years. This is the case for Beauval.
But in the meantime, the newborns of the zoo of Beauval will be visible to the public after two months spent in incubator, according to Le Monde.

Six questions autour de la naissance des pandas au zoo de Beauval