Support

Baby Panda Watch Begins – Mei Xiang had her first ultrasound yesterday

baby panda watch
Photo by PoPville flickr user Eric P.

From the Smithsonian National Zoo yesterday afternoon:

“Mei Xiang had her first ultrasound this morning. Vets weren’t looking for a fetus at this early stage, they’re tracking changes in Mei’s reproductive tract and getting her comfortable having her belly touched.

Pandas experience something called a diapause, meaning that even if a female is pregnant the embryo doesn’t actually implant into the uterine wall (and start developing) until 17 to 20 days before she gives birth. The panda team will continue to perform ultrasounds—the only definitive way to tell if a panda is pregnant—throughout the summer as Mei chooses to participate. Today, Mei wasn’t very interested in participating in the ultrasound. After lying down in the training chute she sat up before vets had a good look at her uterus. They shifted Mei to her den where she could stand up. But again, after a few minutes, she decided to stop participating.

Our vets perform ultrasounds because female pandas’ hormones and behavior mimic a pregnancy even if they are not pregnant.”

Recent Stories

From an email: “This month, I’ll be hosting free bike maintenance/repair classes and offering free basic bike repairs at the Adams Morgan Ace Hardware.

Thanks to Chris for sending this great shot from Harvard and Adams Mill. Friends of the White Whale Society is brought to you by the team behind Hawks*** around Town….

“Dear PoPville, What’s going on with Capital One Arena? How come so many artists are choosing CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore over the 6,000 extra seats at CapOne that has…

“This is Boop. She lives in LeDroit Park. She enjoys napping.” If you have any animal/pet photos you’d like to share please send an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’…

Potomac Harmony is Back! Following a gap year of competing, then virtual rehearsals during the pandemic, followed by the well-earned retirement of our long-term director, a year of a director search, Potomac Harmony hit the regional contest stage in Concord, North Carolina in March for the first time since 2018! It was exhilarating, reaffirming, and rewarding!

The chorus hit all of its goals, the biggest of which was to have fun and sing our best on contest stage — we did both! Because we earned a score over 400 points, our new Director, Allison Lynskey, was awarded the Novice Director award, photo above. Additionally, one of our charter members, Jackie Bottash, was nominated for and honored with the Leadership Excellence award. It was a celebratory weekend!

What’s next? So much! We now look forward to upcoming performances, growing our membership, and expanding our musical product with new arrangements and an education component each week. It’s an exciting time to be part of this ever-growing ensemble!

Read More

Submit your own Announcement here.

Comedy Cabaret

Kick up your heels at Bad Medicine’s COMEDY CABARET extravaganza at the DC Improv Comedy Club on Tuesday, May 21st. Revel in the sights and sounds of this entertaining musical revue, with songs, dance and sketch comedy that will have

×

Subscribe to our mailing list