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The Sunday death of the National Zoo’s 6-day-old cub underlined the long odds facing giant pandas. Here’s a look at the grim stats for baby pandas, in D.C. and elsewhere:
75: The percentage of panda cubs born in the United States that live past their first year, according to USA TODAY.
7: Days that keepers have to monitor a panda mother and cub to keep the mother from crushing her child.
7: Years since the National Zoo’s Mei Xiang last gave birth, in 2005.
2: National Zoo panda cubs that have died from pneumonia.
1: National Zoo panda cubs that have been stillborn.
1: National Zoo panda cubs that have died from a lack of oxygen.
1: National Zoo panda cubs that have died from infections.
100: How many days that have to pass after a cub’s birth before it gets a name, according to Chinese tradition.
Photo by the National Zoo via a Creative Commons license.
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