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Morning News

Panda Premiere: Tian Tian, Mei Xiang Take Spotlight at National Zoo

Aired January 10, 2001 - 10:43 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We go from there to Washington, D.C., a different kind of arrival. This the arrival of the two pandas making their big debut at the Washington National Zoo. There's two of them there. There's Mei Xiang and Tian Tian. And I think...

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Which one is this one?

KAGAN: Well, you know, it gives you a little clue on the "Washington Post" Web site. They had kind of a breakdown. And I believe that one is Tian Tian, because if you look at his back, he has the black shoulder band that narrows in the middle...

HARRIS: That's the one.

KAGAN: ... where with Mei Xiang it's wide straight across the middle.

HARRIS: He also looks a little bit bigger. They say that he is a bit bigger.

KAGAN: Well, he is a big guy. Do you know that Tian Tian means, "more and more"?

HARRIS: No.

KAGAN: So that would be like more and more bamboo that he eats. He is a 217 pounds, 3 1/2 years old. His partner there, Mei Xiang, who we should see in a second -- that's the female -- she is more petite. She is weighing in at 139 pounds.

HARRIS: Also -- and this is rather appropriate. You'll notice that Tian Tian, the guy, is wearing what looks like brown socks.

KAGAN: Right.

HARRIS: And Mei Xiang has...

KAGAN: And Mei Xiang has stockings that go all the way.

HARRIS: ... black stockings. Hers actually go all the way up the leg.

KAGAN: Another clue why everyone is getting more confident this is Tian Tian. He has two large black dots under the bridge of his nose, whereas Mei Xiang has a band across her nose.

HARRIS: And I can't make them out, but Patty Davis is there. Let's see if she can make out the black dots on the nose and figure all this out for us -- Patty.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you, Leon, I cannot tell them apart.

(LAUGHTER)

You have the socks theory and the stocking theory. Also, one of them has a smaller band across his back than the other one. But it's very difficult to tell the difference between the two. I think you pretty much have to go by the size...

KAGAN: If they're next to each other.

DAVIS: ... Tian Tian, the male, being much larger.

HARRIS: Yes.

DAVIS: Now, these two pandas are on loan from China. They are a million dollars a year that the Washington National Zoo is paying to China. That money is going toward conservation -- preservation, that is, of pandas in the wild in China.

Pandas are an endangered species. There are only about 1,000 to 1,200 left in the world. And this money is going towards making sure that these pandas stay alive, stay with us.

And one other thing is that, speaking of more pandas, perhaps in the future, they're hoping to breed these two pandas, the male and the female, but they're not old enough yet at this point. When they do get old enough, they're hoping for a cub from these two pandas. That, however, will be China's property when and if it is born -- Daryn and Leon.

HARRIS: Even though it'll be born on U.S. soil, won't be a U.S. citizen, huh?

KAGAN: That's part of the deal. Apparently not.

Also, Patty, I understand that the zoo, which has a long history of having pandas -- it had Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing before -- and a long history of trying to get pandas to breed, that they've learned a lot. And these pandas are actually the beneficiaries of that information, that they're in a very different environment and actually allowed to socialize more than Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing were allowed to when they first arrived about 29 years ago.

DAVIS: That's true. And the zoo is hoping to learn more. They say they still don't know a lot about pandas. That don't know a lot about the habitat. They don't know a lot about pandas' bodies, how they work, what they eat and why they need to eat what they eat.

But Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing were here for more than 20 years. They were very elderly when they passed away in the 1990s. The zoo was devastated when they lost these two pandas.

The new director, the new head of the Smithsonian, Lawrence Small, has told me that, in fact, when he came into his new job about a year ago, the first thing people asked him was, when are we getting more pandas? And he said he knew that was the first thing that he had to do, and he has succeeded here now in bringing these pandas to the National Zoo, making their debut today.

HARRIS: Hey, Patty, let me ask you something. Earlier this morning, we had Terry Maple on from the Atlanta Zoo, from Zoo Atlanta here, and told me that they've been basically working very -- been working hand-in-hand with the folks there in Washington, trading secrets and whatnot to figure out exactly what it is pandas want. And they figured out the habitat problem. Give us an idea of how big this habitat is. Can you describe for our viewers who are seeing this on a small screen just how big this whole area is?

DAVIS: The outside is like somebody's huge backyard. It's probably a half of a football field big.

HARRIS: OK.

DAVIS: Then there's an indoor habitat as well where they have four separate rooms where they can play in and out. That's where you saw them this morning before they made their outdoor debut. Then behind that, there's a visitors center where there's educational material and things like that where you can learn more about pandas and view them while they're inside.

But I have to add one more thing about the weather. It is really cold out here today. It's 30 to 40 degrees. For us humans, that's pretty frigid. But zookeepers say that this is panda weather. They love it.

HARRIS: No problem when you're in a full-length fur.

DAVIS: Daryn and Leon.

KAGAN: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

KAGAN: Which Patty is not, so we'll let her go warm up there. Patty Davis, thank you very much. Also our thanks to Mei Xiang and to the other panda, or Tian Tian...

HARRIS: Tian Tian.

KAGAN: ... as well.

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