The first panda cub born at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo in 24 years died of pneumonia Wednesday, the Tokyo metropolitan government said. The baby panda was born on Thursday at the zoo in Taito Ward to 7-year-old female giant panda Shin Shin and 6-year-old male Ri Ri. It was the first panda born through natural breeding at the zoo. The zoo had been monitoring the cub after reuniting it with Shin Shin in a maternity room around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. The zoo said it confirmed the cub's cries at around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday. However, at around 7:30 a.m., a zoo attendant picked the cub up from where it was lying on its back on Shin Shin's belly and found it was in cardiac arrest. The cub was moved to an incubator and given cardiac massage, but was confirmed dead at around 8:30 a.m. Ueno Zoo Director Toshimitsu Doi had stressed that panda cubs need to be carefully watched for at least a week since it takes that long to determine whether a baby panda will be able to thrive. This is because there have been many cases in which baby pandas, blind and covered only with downy hair, die several days after birth. Shin Shin nursed the cub after giving birth Thursday. Shin Shin, however, stopped taking care of the cub around midnight Friday, and the cries of the baby, left on the concrete floor of the maternity room, became weaker. A zoo attendant warmed the baby using a hot water bottle and moved it to an incubator after wrapping it in a towel. While feeding Shin Shin an apple Saturday morning, zoo staff used a pump to collect her milk to feed the cub. The cub regained its strength when it was given the breast milk through a bottle. Its weight, which was 133 grams Friday, increased to 144 grams Tuesday. It sometime happens that a giant panda will stop taking care of its baby. There are also cases in which the tiny baby dies under the large body of a mother panda. In June 1985, Chu Chu, the first panda born in Japan, died at the zoo at the age of just 43 hours.
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