Thai Zoo Surprised by Birth of Panda Cub

A healthy panda cub was born Wednesday at a zoo in northern Thailand.

In this photo released by Chiang Mai Zoo, a new born baby panda sits in the hands of a veterinarian as it is cared at Chiang Mai zoo in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand Wednesday, May 27, 2009.

(Chiang Mai Zoo/AP Photo)
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Staff artificially inseminated Lin Hui, a 7-year-old female, on Feb. 18, but had seen no signs she was pregnant, Chiang Mai Zoo's director Thananpat Pongamorn said.

"She's been anxious since yesterday. She did not want to get close to caretakers or any other people, but we didn't know what the problem was," Thananpat told The Associated Press.

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Lin Hui's cub screeched loudly as soon it was born early Wednesday, and appeared healthy, Thananpat said.

Zoo officials said they could not examine the newborn cub closely enough to determine its gender because it would get scared and was too vulnerable to disease, but that they would check when it was a week old.

The United States, Japan and Thailand are the only countries outside China to have bred pandas through artificial insemination, Thananpat said.

Only about 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in China's southwestern Sichuan province.

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