While we are all waiting for the equivalent of the Royal birth here in Edinburgh one of the companies who are trying to help the zoo ensure that any panda cub is given the best start has told The Edinburgh Reporter what they are doing.
The potentially first baby panda cub to be born in the UK will be in safe hands, thanks to an early baby shower gift from Dräger.
As the world awaits news of the potential new arrival Dräger has donated an ex-clinical incubator to Edinburgh Zoo, which had previously been used to support vulnerable babies within neonatal intensive care units across the UK.
If Tian Tian does give birth, the incubator will be used in case she rejects the cub or if she has twins. Female pandas are by nature single mothers, and as a rule, don’t have sufficient resources to raise two offspring at once. In the wild, if twins are born to a free-ranging panda, one of the new-borns is normally abandoned.
The Caleo® Incubator is an extremely quiet device and will be used to keep the panda cub in a safe, thermally controlled environment, delivering both accurate temperature and humidity control.
On average, new-born pandas weigh just over 100 grams so once they start to grow, the integrated weighing scales can monitor the cub’s weight. For the zoo staff looking after the panda cub, they will have excellent views as well as easy access to the cub.
This won’t be the first panda cub that a Dräger incubator has helped. In 2007, Zui Ba gave birth to twins in Madrid zoo. The second baby panda was born two hours after the first, and was placed in one of the zoo’s incubators a few minutes later. It was then transferred into a Dräger incubator where it could be monitored more precisely.
Luke Bourdillon, sales and marketing manager for neonatal care at Dräger, said: “We had previously supported Edinburgh Zoo with an older obsolete incubator. When we heard through the veterinary community that they required a replacement incubator, we were delighted to be able to donate one of our Caleo® machines, an ex-clinical, incubator.”
He concluded: “We are absolutely committed to supporting this donation as it is an extension to our ongoing commitment for premature life. Like the rest of the world we are eagerly waiting to (hopefully) welcome a new panda – or pandas – into the UK and now, the zoo has the equipment needed should there be a need for any neonatal care.”
Darren McGarry, Head of Living Collections for Edinburgh Zoo, said:-“It’s tremendous that Dräger has donated this top of the range incubator to Edinburgh Zoo, which will be a very important part of the husbandry requirement for hand rearing a panda cub should the situation arise.”
Dräger is an international leader in medical technology as for warming therapy and neonatal life support.
Dräger. Technology for Life®
Dräger is an international leader in the fields of medical and safety technology. Our products protect, support and save lives. Founded in 1889, in 2012 Dräger generated revenues of around EUR 2.37 billion. The Dräger Group is currently present in more than 190 countries and has about 12,500 employees worldwide. Please visit http://www.draeger.com for more information.
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