A two-week-old red panda cub was found dead lying next to its mother, Ruby, at the Santa Barbara Zoo Tuesday morning.
The cause of death has yet to be determined. Zoo officials made note that the first few weeks of a red panda’s life are the most vulnerable and that red panda infants typically have a 40% mortality rate.
“We were really hoping that Ruby would be successful in rearing her two cubs,” said Dr. Julie Barnes, the Santa Barbara Zoo’s Vice President of Animal Care and Health. “But we also know that infant mortality is very high in this species, particularly for first time mothers.”
The 19-day-old cub was born on July 2 to first-time parents Ruby and Raj. Ruby had always exhibited attentive care to her cubs, regularly washing, nursing and sleeping with them.
The Zoo announced on Monday that the cub’s sibling wasn’t properly nursing itself and required intervention and bottle feeding. The surviving cub is currently being held in a temperature-regulated incubator where it is receiving 24/7 care and being fed antibiotics, and other supplemental fluids, before transitioning to a bottle.
The Zoo has also been consulting red panda experts and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Red Panda Species Survival Plan to help understand and maintain the surviving cubs’ health.
The red panda is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “Red List” of threatened species. Experts have estimated that approximately 2,500 red pandas are still alive in the wild following a 50% decline in the past couple of decades.
