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Berlin Zoo Hopes for More German-born Giant Pandas as Scans Confirm Pregnancy

FILE -In this April 5, 2019 file photo taken through a window female panda Meng Meng eats bamboo at its enclosure at the zoo in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file)
FILE -In this April 5, 2019 file photo taken through a window female panda Meng Meng eats bamboo at its enclosure at the zoo in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file)
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Berlin Zoo Hopes for More German-born Giant Pandas as Scans Confirm Pregnancy

FILE -In this April 5, 2019 file photo taken through a window female panda Meng Meng eats bamboo at its enclosure at the zoo in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file)
FILE -In this April 5, 2019 file photo taken through a window female panda Meng Meng eats bamboo at its enclosure at the zoo in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, file)

The Berlin Zoo has much anticipated news: Meng Meng the panda is pregnant again, months after the first giant pandas born in Germany were sent to China, The Associated Press reported.
The zoo said Tuesday that ultrasound scans over the weekend showed Meng Meng is expecting two cubs. They still have plenty of growing to do but the zoo expects the birth at the end of August, if all goes well, it said.
Meng Meng and male panda Jiao Qing arrived in Berlin in 2017. In August 2019, Meng Meng gave birth to Pit and Paule, also known by the Chinese names Meng Xiang und Meng Yuan, the first giant pandas born in Germany.
The twins were a star attraction in Berlin, but they were flown to China in December — a trip that was contractually agreed from the start but delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. China gifted friendly nations with its unofficial mascot for decades as part of a “panda diplomacy″ policy. The country now loans pandas to zoos on commercial terms.
Giant pandas have difficulty breeding and births are particularly welcomed. There are about 1,800 pandas living in the wild in China and a few hundred in captivity worldwide.
Meng Meng was artificially inseminated in March. The zoo noted that female pandas are only capable of reproducing for about 72 hours per year.

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Scientists Track Egret's 38-hour Flight from Australia to PNG

A Little egret looks for food in the water on near Starbase, Texas, formally known as Boca Chica Village, on May 28, 2025. There are (Photo by SERGIO FLORES / AFP)
A Little egret looks for food in the water on near Starbase, Texas, formally known as Boca Chica Village, on May 28, 2025. There are (Photo by SERGIO FLORES / AFP)
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Scientists Track Egret's 38-hour Flight from Australia to PNG

A Little egret looks for food in the water on near Starbase, Texas, formally known as Boca Chica Village, on May 28, 2025. There are (Photo by SERGIO FLORES / AFP)
A Little egret looks for food in the water on near Starbase, Texas, formally known as Boca Chica Village, on May 28, 2025. There are (Photo by SERGIO FLORES / AFP)

A species of heron has been tracked flying for almost two days non-stop between Australia and Papua New Guinea during its northern migration, scientists say.

Australian researchers used GPS to follow eight plumed egrets and 10 great egrets over a period of months, after the birds left the Macquarie Marshes in New South Wales, AFP reported.

Great egrets were found to disperse in all directions, said the scientists from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.

But the plumed egrets all migrated north, and one was tracked flying almost 2,400 kilometers (1,490 miles) over several months before settling near the town of Kalo, southeast of Port Moresby.

It took that bird 38 hours to fly more than 700km across the Coral Sea, according to findings published in the journal Pacific Conservation Biology on Monday.

It was the first time scientists had recorded the plumed egrets' migration.

Another Australian bird, the bar-tailed godwit, holds the world record for flying more than 13,500 kilometers non-stop in just 11 days during its migration south from Alaska to Tasmania.