Sad News from the National Zoo

We received sad news today from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. One of two giant panda cubs born at the zoo Saturday has died.

The smaller of the twin giant panda cubs had been at “high-risk” since Monday when its mother dismissed zookeepers’ attempts to switch the cubs for nursing.

Haven’t been able to swap cubs since 2p 8/24.Mei has larger cub.Smaller cub’s behaviors are good;still high-risk time pic.twitter.com/FrEG2lYfEz

— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) August 25, 2015

The cub died shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday, the zoo said in a release.

We are sad to report that the smaller of the two panda cubs has died. We will continue to provide updates on social media w/ #Pandastory.

— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) August 26, 2015

“The larger cub appears to be strong, robust, behaving normally and is with mother Mei Xiang,” the release said.

The recent birth was a big deal because pandas in captivity have great difficulty mating and producing offspring. Why? For one thing, the conditions for mating in zoos are very different from conditions in the wild. In nature, several male pandas compete for one female during mating season, ensuring that every fertile female becomes pregnant, according to Animal Planet’s Tracy Wilson.

While we mourn the loss of this newborn cub, take a look at a few cute adult pandas in The Daily Cute.

Watch the live panda cam here