The Giant Panda baby born at the Smithsonian's National Zoo is healthy, zookeepers said on Sunday.
Mei Xiang gave birth to the baby on Friday afternoon. According to the zoo officials, the baby is fully formed, robust and is a healthy shade of pink.
The cub weighs 137 grams or about 4.8 ounces. Its gender and paternity, which is in doubt as two sets of sperms from two male pandas were used, will be known only after a few weeks.
"Its belly was nice and full, its mouth was normal, and it was obvious that the cub is both nursing and digesting. All signs are that we have a very healthy, active, vibrant cub." The zoo said in a blog post.
Giant Pandas occasionally deliver twins. Even Mei Xiang's baby had a sibling, which was stillborn. The dead baby was retrieved from Mei Xiang's cage. Zookeepers said that the baby wasn't fully developed.
Mei Xiang previously gave birth to Tai Shan, July 9, 2005 that now lives at the Panda Base in BiFengxia in Ya'an, China. Her next baby was born on September 16, 2012. This cub died a few days after birth due to liver complications.
The Giant Panda is so attached to the surviving cub that she didn't let the zookeepers take it away for medical examination.
After several attempts, Marty Dearie , who works at the zoo, was able to get the cub away from its mother.
"All the external features looked perfectly normal, so the cub has been described as vibrant, healthy and active. My colleagues were very, very happy. This is joyful news," zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson told the Associated Press.
The mom was agitated and kept pacing around its den and calmed-down only after the zookeepers returned the baby.
The zoo has two Panda cams for people to see the Panda and her baby.