Meet Atlanta's Baby Giant Panda

About one month old, a new giant panda cub at Zoo Atlanta is still smaller than a house cat, but he is healthy and growing fast, veterinarians said yesterday after a weekly medical exam. The cub, who will be named when he is 100 days old following Chinese tradition, will be placed in public viewing areas when he can walk, usually around 4 months old. He measures just over a foot in length long and weighs 2.2 pounds.

"His abdomen's really round and full, and that's what we really like in a baby," said Dr. Hayley Murphy, director of veterinary services at Zoo Atlanta. "That just tells us he's eating well and his abdomen's full of milk." This is the third cub for the cub's mother, Lun Lun. She was inseminated earlier this year with the sperm of her mate, Yang Yang. Atlanta is one of four US zoos with giant pandas, along with San Diego, Memphis, and Washington, DC. (More Lun Lun stories.)