The cub is not much to see at the moment because Panda cubs are the one of the smallest births to occur among mammals. Babies are only about 1/900th the size of their mothers, only marsupials give birth to smaller young. Panda cubs are unable to move on their own and are completely dependent on their mom for warmth, food, and protection.
Mei Xiang has been more protective of the cub in the past few days and has not allowed the vet staff to take the cub from her for an exam. Keepers say the baby sounds healthy and they are continually observing the pair on the panda cams.
The Smithsonian National Zoo announced earlier today that their female panda Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub at 5:32 pm!
You can watch the Panda cam on the national zoo’s website here.
(photo of Mei Xiang: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)
Behavior watchers were observing her 24 hours a day via their panda cams since August 7 as she began to exhibit more and more signs that she would be giving birth. The cub will receive a preliminary exam in the next 48 hours, and continue to receive regular health checks. This is the panda’s third cub, her first cub survived and now lives in china while her second cub died of liver failure.
You can read more about all that goes into testing for panda pregnancy, how she got that way, and the video of her giving birth at the panda blog.
What is believed to be the oldest portrait of a guinea pig in English art has been discovered! Previously in a private collection, it will soon be on display to the public for a short time.
(photo credit: Jonathan Farmer/National Portrait Gallery)
The painting is simply titled Three Unknown Elizabethan Children and is from 1580 by an unknown Anglo-Netherlands (probably Flemish or Dutch) artist. The painting features three children, all very well dressed. The boy in front is thought to be 6, the girl 7, and the boy in the back 5 years old. The girl holds the guinea pig while the boy behind her holds what appears to be a finch. Guinea pigs were introduced to Europe by Spanish traders. Once prized meat in their native home, they became popular exotic pets among wealthy Europeans.
I do not know how much more their is the painting as all photos of it show only this much. It is very exciting to think that guinea pigs have been such beloved pets that they would make it into a portrait!
The painting will be on display in London at the National Portrait Gallery as part of the exhibition Elizabeth I and Her People running from October 10 to January 5, 2014. The exhibit will include other portraits, paintings, and over 100 objects (like costumes and coins).
I would encourage anyone in the area to check out the Gallery and this exhibit. I love history and this would be amazing if I could get to it!
I feel like E – the hay disposer and squeaker port – could also be simply the food and squeaker port because my guinea pigs love not only their hay but also their pellets, veggies, and fruits too!
The giant panda cams at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo went down for maintenance but are now back in full HD, with uninterrupted video! You can currently watch on their website at AnimalCams on your computer, tablet, or phone.
The female panda Mei Xiang might be pregnant, but since cubs are born so small it is impossible to tell on ultrasound until the final weeks of gestation – you can follow cub updates on twitter at #CubWatch.
You can see the video of Mei’s latest ultrasound, which she voluntarily participates in when she wants (she gets treats for it of course). Even though it is too early to see if she is having a cub the training involved in making such a medical procedure happen is quite interesting:
Again, you can watch all the adorable panda action on the Smithsonian’s website at AnimalCams.
Finding Rover is a free app available to help you out should you ever lose your dog. The goal is to unite more pets with their owners – millions of pets are lost and only a small percent are ever found.
Finding Rover offers facial recognition features for pictures of dogs – similar to those for human faces on platforms like Facebook – in order to match up a dog with their owner. It depends on a lot of people having the app so that owners enter their pet’s photo and that people who find lost dogs take photos of those dogs so the app has information to check. The app even helps you to take a photo of the dog by making a barking noise to make the dog look at your phone while you take a photo.
If you find a lost dog? Take a photograph and the app will search its database of owners. If a match is found you will be notified of a match and can contact the dog’s owner through the app or by phone. Dog and owner can be reunited!
If you lost your dog? First, you can be proactive by downloading this app before your pet is gone, take a picture of your pet, and enter your information to create a profile so the information is in the database if ever needed. Second,what if you lost your pet but did not have the app before? You can upload a picture you took of your dog and your information even now, the app will be able to help. Either way, once you alert the app your pet is gone the app searches all uploaded photographs of dogs found to see if any match your pet. If a match is made you will be able to contact the person who found your pet through the app.
How can we all help? If you ever see a dog you think is lost, take a picture to at least do a search and see if a match is found. Even if no match is found the photo could be useful and will be there in case the owner does not yet know about their missing pet or the app. You can also spread the word about this app to all of your friends who have dogs. The more people using the app the more useful it will be!
The official website for the application is at FindingRover.com. The app is now available on iPhone on their app store. An Android version is coming soon. You can sign up on the official website for an email notification so you can know when the Android version is up.
Of course, you should always have dog tags and a microchip for your pet, but this app can offer even more help to locate your animal.
Here is another news story about the app: lazytechguys
Puppy - Bunny - Guinea - Pretty 