From a shortlist of 10 names, panda lovers in China and the United States are invited to select one for Zoo Atlanta's baby panda by the end of the week a Chinese panda expert has explained.

 

Zhang Zhihe, director of Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base and Denis Kelly, head of Zoo Atlanta, will host a traditional Chinese naming ceremony for the panda on December 15 when the cub will be exactly hundred days of age. 

 

The cub was born on September 6 to mother Lun Lun with artificially inseminated sperm from 'pop' panda Yang Yang.

 

Panda experts from the two countries have short listed 10 names from more than 2,000 suggestions for the public to choose from between now and December 10.

 

Online polls have been opened at the Chinese giant panda website www.pandaabc.com and Zoo Atlanta's website www.zooatlanta.org.

 

The 10 short listed names are Xiao Tao (little peach), Mei Tao (beautiful peach), Mei Lan (Atlanta beauty), Mei Li (beautiful), Ming Xing (bright star), Ping Bao (peaceful, precious treasure), Cheng Ya (pretty Atlanta girl from Chengdu), Ming Yue (bright moon), Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) and Tai Ji (Tai Chi).

 

Animal lovers from Chengdu and Atlanta have suggested more than 2,000 names for the cub since its birth. It’s the fifth giant panda born in a US zoo in the last six years but the first born at Zoo Atlanta. An international giant panda breeding program was launched between the Atlanta establishment and the Chengdu base in 1999.

 

Zhang said Lun Lun's delivery took 36 hours which is the longest ever recorded. The cub was the size of a human hand at birth.

 

At two months the panda cub weighed about 3.15 kilograms and was approximately 53 centimeters in height. She’s been pushing up on her front legs and lifting her head which are both signs of healthy growth zoo officials said.

 

China had a baby boom of artificially bred giant pandas this year with 28 cubs surviving.

 

China's forestry administration has said around 1,590 giant pandas were living in the wild mainly in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces. But Chinese and British scientists announced in June that there could be as many as 3,000 after a survey using new technology to profile DNA from giant panda feces.

 

More than 180 pandas have been bred in captivity at zoos worldwide. Giant pandas have a very low fertility rate as they are sexually inactive. Female pandas become pregnant only once every year and deliver two cubs at most each time. The fertility of captive giant pandas is even lower because of a lack of exercise, say experts. 

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2006)