Print

Panda cub named Mei Lan

By by The Associated Press
Posted 9:29AM on Saturday 16th December 2006 ( 18 years ago )
ATLANTA - The country's newest giant panda cub has a name -- Mei Lan, which means ``Atlanta Beauty.''

The moniker was the top vote-getter in an online poll at The Atlanta Journal-Constitutioin's Web site. Zoo officials say some 57-thousand votes were cast.

The ten names included in the poll were chosen by the zoo, local media organizations and residents in the Sinchuan Province of China -- where the cub's parents were born.

The panda now weighs about 12 pounds and is 26-point-five inches long. She stood up for the first time on her own last week and will have her public debut once she can walk -- most likely later this month or in early January.

She and her mother, Lun Lun, will remain in seclusion until then. The pair didn't even make an appearance during Thursday's ceremony.

The father, Yang Yang, is being kept apart from mother and baby -- as is normal in the wild.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/12/98540

© Copyright 2015 AccessNorthGa.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.