CHATTANOOGA — Chattanooga Zoo is celebrating the unexpected arrival of a red panda cub after multiple tests failed to confirm the mother’s pregnancy.
Saffron gave birth to Masala on July 6, and the cub is now healthy and thriving at the zoo.
The surprise birth was possible because of delayed implantation, a reproductive process in which an early-stage embryo remains dormant before continuing development.
Red panda mating season typically runs from December through March, and zoo staff observed mating behavior between Saffron and Avi in February.
“Saffron became very restless one day and would never settle down,” said Dominique Daniel, zookeeper at Chattanooga Zoo. “I thought she could be in labor, so I kept a close eye on her. I checked the camera in her habitat around 11 p.m. and — surprise — there was a cub! I was so ecstatic, I was literally jumping up and down. I contacted the rest of my team and observed Saffron and her baby until 2 a.m. to confirm that grooming, nursing and other important behaviors were occurring properly.”
Veterinary staff later conducted several X-rays that appeared to show Saffron was not pregnant, but her weight gain and behavior in June led staff to reconsider.
Red panda fetuses develop bones that become visible on X-rays late in pregnancy, helping staff realize Saffron could be expecting.
A zookeeper later discovered the cub on a camera around 11 p.m. after noticing Saffron acting restless and monitored the pair into the early morning hours.
“Masala has been our miracle baby,” said Darde Long, president and CEO of Chattanooga Zoo. “We really hoped that Saffron and Avi would have one more cub, especially after we lost Avi in April.”
Masala weighed about 4 ounces at birth and now weighs more than 2 pounds, while red panda cubs are typically born blind and deaf and begin opening their eyes after about two weeks.
The cub’s father, Avi, died in April after reaching the median life expectancy for a red panda in human care and dealing with a chronic genetic condition.
Masala’s name was chosen by an anonymous donor and refers to a blend of spices in Hindi, connecting the cub to its mother, whose name is also a spice.
Masala can be seen in the ground-floor red panda habitat in the zoo’s Himalayan Passage, with a live video feed available for visitors when the cub is resting in its nest box.
To learn more about Masala’s gender reveal party, visit https://www.chattzoo.org/events/red-panda-gender-reveal.
To learn more about Chattanooga Zoo, visit https://chattzoo.org/.