In July 2005, many Americans were delighted by new reports about the birth and early
development of Tai Shan, a giant panda, at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. This was a
momentous event bought about by years of collaborative effort from reproductive biologists
and veterinarians from the U.S. and China. Now, almost 2, Tai Shan was the fourth cub born
in the U.S. and the first from the National Zoo’s resident pair of giant pandas, Mei Xiang and
Tian Tian.