Pandamonium

You thought the election season was over, but there is one more vote to be tallied. Please make your choice and vote accordingly!

There is a new giant panda cub in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. We know he is a male, because he has been seen scratching himself publicly, holding the remote, and laughing when other pandas drop their soup bowl. You may have seen him on Giant Panda Cam at the David M. Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat.

There are only about 1,800 giant pandas left running around in this old world of ours. The species is a symbol of wildlife conservation and is currently in "vulnerable" status on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list of endangered species. 

So this cub makes 1,801! Let's choose a name from among these (my suggestion, "Panda Demic," was rejected out of hand by the selection committee):

• Fu Zai (福仔), pronounced fu-tzai, meaning prosperous boy
• Xiao Qi ji (小奇迹), shiau-chi-ji, little miracle; 
• Xing Fu (幸福) , shing-fu, happy and prosperous; 
• and Zai Zai (仔仔), tzai-tzai, a traditional Chinese nickname for a boy.

My mom called me "little miracle," but she pronounced it differently.

Mother Mei Xiang has three other kids: Tai Shan, Bao Bao and Bei Bei, but all of them have moved to China under an agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association. This new little dude will have to move there when he turns four.

Mei Xiang, age 22, was artificially inseminated. The father is 23-year-old Tian Tian. Don't ask for details on this, please. Just use your imagination.