A newly-born giant panda is fed in an incubator at a giant panda breeding center in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, Aug. 16, 2006. Weighing only 51 grams on birth, the baby giant panda, the world lightest in record, is deserted by its mother Qizhen and has to be manually fed.

 

The lightest ever premature giant panda, who was abandoned by his mother after she gave birth, has survived his first week and is healthy, a veterinarian said on Wednesday.

 

The premature male cub is now more than 80 grams, up from 51 grams when he was born on Aug. 7, said Wang Chengdong, veterinary director with the Chengdu Giant Panda Reproduction and Research Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

 

It is the lightest baby giant panda on record, said Wang.

 

Baby giant pandas are usually more than 100 grams, while those weighing less than 80 grams are unlikely to survive as they are too small to hold onto their mother's teats.

 

The mother panda, named Qi Zhen, gave birth to a set of twins but the other cub was born healthy. Perhaps knowing that it was almost impossible for the lighter cub to survive, she abandoned him after delivery.

 

Staff at the Chengdu center put him in an incubator and fed him. However, they spent more than half an hour to feed 0.8 grams of milk on the first day as he was too weak to suck. Staff milked Qi Zhen to feed the cub, which is thought to have been the key to his survival.

 

The Chengdu center successfully brought up a 61-gram cub in 1993 but the 51-gram cub is not out of the woods yet. "We cannot say we are successful until he is six months old," Wang explained.

 

China is witnessing a baby boom among its giant panda population with the most recent cub born in the Chengdu center on Monday night.

 

The birth brings the number of newborn, artificially-bred pandas to 12 so far this year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2006)