Panda Born at National Zoo, Is Separated From Ailing Mother

Ling-Ling, the National Zoo’s prized giant panda, gave birth Friday to a tiny cub, but hopes that the nation’s only pair of the rare mammals will finally raise a family were tempered by the detection of an infection in the mother.

Hours after birth, Ling-Ling was anesthetized, and the female cub was taken from her mother’s huge furry arms for a risky procedure that veterinarians hoped would give her a better shot at life than Ling-Ling’s last baby, which died four days after birth.

Because she is 18, near the end of her child-bearing years, Ling-Ling’s delivery of a squealing, 4-ounce baby was greeted with excitement by zoo officials, who decided to bolster the cub’s immune system with an extract from her father’s blood.

The still-unnamed baby was put in an incubator and injected with immunoglobulins, which could help her stave off the sort of infection that in 1987 killed the longest-surviving of Ling-Ling’s four other cubs.

Plans to reunite mother and cub were postponed when 250-pound Ling-Ling was discovered to have a urinary and vaginal infection, which could have affected the baby. Officials hope that, even if the infant has contracted the infection, her bolstered immune system and aggressive treatment will save her.

“She might be able to fight it off,” spokeswoman Sally French said. “We’re just waiting to see.”

Few giant pandas, and none in the U.S., have been born into captivity and survived.

Ling-Ling and her mate, Hsing-Hsing, were born in the wild and given to President Richard M. Nixon on his trip to China in 1972. The couple’s four previous cubs were either stillborn or died within days of birth.

Earlier Friday, zoo director Michael Robinson rejoiced over the birth.

“It’s marvelous,” he said, beaming. “She’s clearly going to be a marvelous mother because she’s so attentive.”

Pandas are not the most romantic of creatures. They mate during no more than five days each year, spending the rest of the time alone, wandering around the high forests of China, foraging for bamboo and munching in it for two-thirds of each day.

There are thought to be fewer than 1,000 of the large mammals left, most of them in preserves.

Volunteers have been watching Ling-Ling around the clock on a television monitor since July 4 because panda pregnancies can last from three to six months.

Early Friday, Ling-Ling displayed signs that labor was near. At 7 a.m., contractions began.

The baby was born at 9:05 a.m.

The cub, about the size of a stick of butter, was covered with a light coat of white fur, its pink skin still visible underneath.

Ling-Ling covered the infant with her paw, almost hiding it.

“We couldn’t see it,” Robinson said, “but we could hear these little squeals from it.”

Baby pandas are totally dependent on their mothers for at least six months but strike out on their own at about 18 months.

If the baby survives, it will be sheltered from public view until next spring.

“This is a time when mothers should have peace and quiet,” Robinson said.