Now new research suggests that the mole's second thumb, just like the Giant panda's, is a fake.
That, combined with the panda's recent behavior, convinced the scientists she was ready to breed.
After the mother panda's distress call Sunday, a veterinarian examined the cub and observed that it was not breathing and had no heartbeat, said Suzan Murray, the zoo's chief veterinarian.
Staff at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington said they were heartbroken by the newborn giant panda cub's death, just six days after officials trumpeted its birth.
The zoo's panda exhibit will be closed "until we're confident that Mei Xiang is safe and healthy, " Kelly said.
In April Panda Bear's Tomboy sold 14, 000 copies in its first week, with vinyl responsible for 37% of all sales--more than CD or digital.
Zoo chiefs have begun fertility tests on Edinburgh's female panda, Tian Tian, ahead of the spring mating season.
Keepers at Edinburgh Zoo as still waiting for female giant panda Tian Tian's hormone levels to peak before she can be introduced to her mate.
Besides the usual back-and-forth we enjoy with WowWee's products, 'panda also reads bedtime stories (we hear that it's fond of Bearinstein Bears), interacts with a MiniMe version of itself, and of course, delivers mad bear hugs to love-starved tykes.
The cub, conceived through artificial insemination, was 14-year-old mother Mei Xiang's second in seven years with 15-year-old Tian Tian, the zoo's male giant panda.
Other Asian species which depend on bamboo for food or for shelter include the red panda and the world's second smallest bat, the lesser bamboo bat (Tylonycteris pachypus), which is 3.5 cm (1.4 inches) long.
BBC: NEWS | Science/Nature | UN alert on threat to wild bamboo
So, Saturday morning, a team of scientists and veterinarians artificially inseminated the Smithsonian National Zoo's female giant panda Mei Xiang, after determining that she and her male consort Tian Tian had "no competent breeding" overnight, according to a statement from the National Zoo.
DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda" was the top animated film released in China in 2008, according to the company.
In July, officials said a week-old giant panda cub died at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo after its mother's milk accidentally entered its airway.
But the church eventually found less sophisticated officials in Huizhou, near Hong Kong, and sold them the idea (one local dignitary at the time was under the impression that Panda was one of America's Big Four car makers, according to Eric Harwit, an expert on China's car industry at the University of Hawaii).
Next to the giant panda, Yao is perhaps China's best known and much loved, icon, in part because exudes a wholesome, feel-good image.
In today's world, the giant panda and the mole are anomalies among vertebrates: both have a second thumb, giving them a total of 12 digits.
Another hole is styled after China's favorite animal, the panda bear.
You can see birds in your backyard, you can go see a panda bear, even if it's only on TV, there are animals out there that people can appreciate, that they can sympathize with, and they can relate to.
He shoots like he's trying to win the giant stuffed panda at the street fair.
We've heard this whole song and dance before, but apparently Hybrios are such an improvement over regular one-use batteries that the Worldwide Wildlife Fund recently let the company stick its logo on the packets -- and if there's anything that motivates us to buy things, it's a giant, environmentally-friendly panda.
ENGADGET: Hybrio batteries bridge gap between disposables and rechargables
Every day she heads to the panda enclosure to collect a sample of Tian Tian's urine before riding across Edinburgh by bus.
With Merriweather Post Pavilion, as with group member Noah Lennox's solo album Person Pitch (released under the name Panda Bear), the instrumentation has moved in an electronic direction, with samples and looping serving as a foundation for both albums.
The researchers, who report their findings in a Sept. 19 paper in the journal PLoS ONE, say the site of the Panda pipe was covered with a forest of Metasequoia, similar to today's dawn redwoods, during the early Eocene.
The panda uses its thumbs to better grip its favourite bamboo food, while the mole's shovel-like claws are probably an adaptation to its dirt-filled tunnels.
Fiat will unveil a new version of its Panda city car Wednesday, but a slowing economy could pose risks for the company's plan to revive its manufacturing in Italy.
Like to win a panda you have to prove you are good at hugs, " says Mr. Sorensen, who says he's gotten letters from bingo "traditionalists" who "think we are desecrating their game.
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