New born panda cub to meet public in Madrid

The baby giant panda born in the Madrid Zoo in August this year will meet the public for the first time on Saturday. The male cub - the third of giant panda Hua Zui Ba, whose twins born in 2010 have since been transferred to China - has now grown to 40 centimeters in length and gained weight from the 210 grams at its birth to some 4.2 kilograms. The baby panda will be named on Dec. 5 pending results of an internet poll. The public will be able to see the baby panda during the weekend during feeding and resting time in the indoor bedroom with its mother. The Madrid Zoo will set up a webcam next week. There are roughly 300 giant pandas in captivity throughout the world, and fewer than 1,600 living in the wild in a few mountain ranges in central China. Most pandas bred in captivity are conceived through artificial insemination. Reproduction is difficult as female pandas are only able to conceive for about two or three days in the spring.