Hairy tale of giant panda born at Zoo Atlanta: Mei Lan is a fella

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By Melissa Ruggieri

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It turns out that Mei Lan isn’t a Southern belle, but a Southern gent.

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Phil Skinner, pskinner@ajc.com Mei Lan wanders around his habitat during a send off party at Zoo Atlanta on Jan. 30, 2010.

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The giant panda, born in September 2006 and the first panda born at Zoo Atlanta, was recently discovered to be a male.

Mei Lan departed Atlanta in February 2010 for the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China. Though the panda -- whose name means “Atlanta Beauty” -- was determined to be a female 19 days after birth by Zoo Atlanta staff and a representative from Chengdu, the staff at Chengdu recently noticed the appearance of testes, which don’t descend until pandas are more than 3 years old.

Dr. Rebecca Snyder, curator of mammals at Zoo Atlanta, said the mix-up might have occurred since Mei Lan was examined slightly later than usual.

Cubs born at Chengdu Research Base are typically taken for their “sexing” exam within 24 hours of birth because the cub at that time is usually a bit dehydrated, which makes the difference between male and female genitalia more pronounced, Snyder explained.

As time elapses, the cub becomes plumper and furrier, making it more difficult to detect the difference between males and females.

The reason for waiting longer to check Mei Lan was a simple courtesy to nature.

“[Mother panda] Lun Lun was doing such a good job, we didn’t want to disrupt her. It’s common for a first-time mom to take longer to put her cub down,” Snyder said.

By comparison, Lun Lun’s second baby, Xi Lan, was examined two days after birth because of a medical issue and Po, born last year, received his sexing exam nine days after birth.

But despite the gender confusion, nothing else will change for Mei Lan.

Snyder said the panda would have gone to Chengdu regardless and will still breed -- but now he’ll eventually be a daddy instead of a mommy.

Mistakes in identifying the sex of an animal -- particularly bears -- does happen on occasion, said Dr. Hayley Murphy, director of veterinary services at Zoo Atlanta.

“If it wasn’t a giant panda,” she said, “this just would have been a paperwork change.”

Zoo staff will recheck the sexes of Xi Lan and Po during their next scheduled exams.