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Thursday, December 21, 2006
One giant step for Mei Lan
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Slide some all-terrain sneakers in Mei Lan’s stocking. She’s going to need them any day now.
Zoo Atlanta’s baby panda expanded her horizons Thursday morning. Moments after submitting to her weekly exam, the 3 1/2-month-old cub managed to step outside the box where she’s been snoozing the nights away.
It wasn’t the smoothest step ever taken. In crawling over the 2-inch-by-4-inch barrier that forms her sleeping place, Mei Lan was as graceful as a rockslide.
But shaky steps soon became smooth, strong ones. Zoo officials are confident the cub, named in a ceremony last week, soon will be toddling after her mom, Lun Lun. She just needs to gain more strength in her rear legs, they say.
“Once she gets her legs underneath her, she’s going to be a lot of fun to watch,” said Dr. Maria Crane, the zoo’s senior veterinarian. Crane conducted the 12-minute weekly exam, the cub’s 13th since her Sept. 6 birth.
Mei Lan, as usual, wriggled in her examiners’ arms while Crane struggled to get measurements with a cloth measuring tape. Crane looked like a patient tailor, trying to outfit a reluctant 3-year-old.
Here’s the tale of tape and scale:
• Mei Lan is 27.5 inches long. True to form, the cub has grown an inch in the past week.
• The cub hasn’t missed many meals. She’s nearly 21 inches around.
• Mei Lan weighs 13 pounds — a 1-pound gain in seven days.
• Her teeth are getting longer. Crane ran a finger inside Mei Lan’s mouth,
• The cub’s coordination and strength continue to improve, Crane said. Mei Lan at least twice tried to crawl off the table where her handlers conducted the examination.
Crane smiled at her young patient. “She continues to grow quite nicely, as you can see,” Crane said.
Zoo officials think Mei Lan may need those sneakers within two weeks, and maybe sooner.
Click here to see this week’s photo gallery and here for video.
PLUS: Did you hear about the zebra shark? Read about it here.
