WASHINGTON: The smaller of the two giant panda cubs born at the US’s Smithsonian National Zoo over the weekend died on Wednesday, zoo officials said.

The undersize cub was less than four days old and had been treated with antibiotics and bottle-fed by zookeepers as its mother, Mei Xiang, focused her attention on its larger sibling. “We are sad to report that the smaller of the two panda cubs has died,” the zoo said on Twitter.

The larger cub “appears to be strong, robust, behaving normally and is with mother Mei Xiang,” the zoo said.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2015

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