A 21-year-old giant panda mother and her six-month-old cub died of diseases at a Shanghai zoo late December, the zoo announced Thursday.
The mother Guo Guo suffered acute pancreatitis, and her daughter Hua Sheng suffered severe bowel and intestinal problems, according to the Shanghai Wild Animal Park Sina Weibo account, a Chinese Twitter-like service.
Guo Guo and Hua Sheng fell ill on Dec. 19 and 23 respectively, and died on Dec. 26 and 31.
The mother was quarantined for treatment on Dec. 19 shortly after she showed symptoms of fever, vomiting, diarrhea, stomachache and discharged intestinal mucus. Her situation turned critical on Dec. 22 when she began to suffer convulsions.
Hua Sheng was taken away from her mother, and bottle fed after her mother fell ill, but started showing symptoms of vomiting, stomachache and discharged intestinal mucus four days later.
On Dec. 29, Hua Sheng had surgery, eliminating more than 80 centimeters of her intestine, after a CT scan found she had advanced bowel and intestinal problems. However, she did not survive long.
Two veterinarians and a breeder from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda helped treat the pandas.
Samples from the pandas have been sent to researchers in Shanghai and Changchun cities, as well as Sichuan Province, the giant panda's natural habitat, to figure out how and why they became ill.
