Cub turns 15 - days

CHIANG MAI: -- Since its birth on May 27, the cub has been developing fast physically. continuously and the section yesterday at 2pm had ten mascots visiting the panda family while human visitors observed joyously.

Section chief Prasertsak Boontrakulpoontawee said Lin Hui was exhausted from a lack of rest as she had been holding the cub in her arms most of the time. She eats only six slices of bamboo bread, two kilograms of bamboo and 300 grams of apples daily.

The cub is now twice the size it was at birth. It sports a footballsized belly and its skin is pinkish, Prasertsak says. It will get its mother's shape between three and four months old and develop milk teeth.

Chuang Chuang appeared in a good mood and now weighed 147kg, compared to the average 120kg weight of male pandas in China. If he continues to gain weight, the zoo will put him on a diet.

Veterinarian Kannikar Nimtrakul said the cub slept on the floor for 510 minutes on Tuesday night after Lin Hui let her go so the mother could eat bamboos and excrete.

The cub, with more and more black hair becoming visible, used her front legs to massage her mother's breast to drink milk.

Meanwhile, with the June 12 deadline for the cubnaming contest almost here, the zoo has received thousands of postcards. Special cards by Thailand Post featuring the cub and four final names for voting will be ready for purchase next week, an informed source said.

-- The Nation 2009-06-11

Cub turns 15 - days

Wow! Just can't wait till it eats shoots and leaves.

Cub turns 15 - days

Wow! Just can't wait till it eats shoots and leaves.

That's why Pandas made such wonderful lovers, . . . because he eats, shoots and leaves .

Baby panda to be put on public show on July 4 - 6

CHIANG MAI: -- The Chiang Mai Zoo will put the panda cub on show on July 4, 5 and 6, a veterinarian said Friday.

Kannikar Nimtrakul, the veterinarian in charge of pandas the zoo, said visitors will be allowed to see the panda baby inside a glass room in two shows a day from July 4 to 6.

She said those who would come for the show should refrain from touching their animals and pets for fear that would carry virus from their pets to the exhibition area, and later spread to the baby panda.

-- The Nation 2009-06-12