A healthy panda cub was born in Chiang Mai Zoo in northern Thailand on May 27, the first in the country after years of failed attempts that included using mating videos to entice the bears to have sex.

一頭健康的貓熊寶寶5月27日於泰國北部清邁動物園誕生，這也是泰國經過多年嘗試失敗後所生下的第一胎貓熊，園方使用的方法包括用Ａ片誘使貓熊交配。

Staff were unaware that Lin Hui, a 7-year-old female, was pregnant, Chiang Mai Zoo's director Thananpat Pongamorn said. Zoo staff artificially inseminated the giant panda on Feb. 18 but had seen no signs she was pregnant. “She's been anxious. She did not want to get close to caretakers or any other people, but we didn't know what the problem was,” Thananpat said.

清邁動物園園長塔那巴‧蓬巴蒙表示，工作人員並未察覺7歲的母貓熊林惠懷孕，他們曾讓大貓熊在2月18日接受人工授精，但並未發現任何她已懷孕的跡象。塔那巴表示：「她一直焦躁不安，不願接近管理員或任何其他人，但我們不知道出了什麼問題。」

Lin Hui started licking her backside and exhibiting pain in her stomach early in the morning of May 27 and then gave birth to the cub, which appeared healthy and immediately began screeching loudly, Thananpat said.

塔那巴指出，林惠在5月27日那天清晨開始舔舐屁股，肚子也開始陣痛，接著就產下小貓熊，貓熊寶寶看來很健康，並立刻開始發出尖叫聲。

Zoo staffers had been monitoring her hormone levels in recent weeks and noticed they were rising. But an ultrasound May 11 did not show a fetus. Panda births are difficult to predict and reports of false pregnancies are common.

園方管理員最近幾周一直在密切監視林惠的荷爾蒙水平，並注意到數值正在升高，但在5月11日超音波檢查時並未發現胎兒。貓熊生產很難預測，而且經常誤傳懷孕的訊息。

Chinese experts flew to Thailand on the following day to examine the one-day-old panda cub. Prasertsak Boontrakulpoonthawee, who heads the Chiang Mai Zoo's panda section, said the cub and mother were doing well. “They are still healthy and strong, both mom and baby. There's nothing to worry about,” he said. “Whatever we can do to care for the pandas, we have already done. We would like to hear from the experts about what else needs to be done.”

中國大陸貓熊專家次日飛到泰國檢查一天大的貓熊寶寶。清邁動物園負責貓熊部門的普拉瑟查克表示，貓熊母女均安。他說：「媽媽和寶寶都很健壯，沒什麼好擔心的。照顧貓熊所能做的一切，我們無不盡力而為。其他還要做些什麼，我們想聽聽專家的意見。」

Prasertsak said the Chinese experts will try to separate the cub from its mother, weigh the baby and determine its sex. These experts concluded that the panda cub is a healthy female that appears to be bonding well with its much larger mother.

普拉瑟查克說，中國專家將試著把貓熊寶寶從媽媽身邊帶走，以便幫她量體重，並決定她的性別。這些專家判定貓熊寶寶是健康的母貓熊，看來和她身軀龐大得多的媽媽感情融洽。

Breeding pandas is a common practice in China where dozens are born by artificial insemination each year. But it is a rare occurrence outside of China, with Thailand becoming only the third country after the United States and Japan to accomplish it, Thananpat said.

在中國大陸生育貓熊是很稀鬆平常的事，每年藉由人工授精可以生出數十頭貓熊。但塔那巴表示，在大陸以外的地方很少發生，泰國是繼美國和日本之後，第三個貓熊人工受孕成功的國家。

“It is an ultimate happiness to see the baby panda,” Thananpat said. “We are so happy that we can breed a panda from artificial insemination. Every staff at the zoo is proud and I think every Thai will be proud too.”

塔那巴說：「能看到貓熊貝比是最幸福的事。我們很高興可以人工授精成功生出貓熊，園裡每個工作人員都引以為傲，我想泰國每個人也都很驕傲。」

Thananpat believes the panda cub will attract a large number of tourists. “We're preparing a corner where tourists can express their congratulations on the cub's birth,” he said. “We're also making pandacub souvenirs.” However, he said it would be three months before direct public display of the cub could be allowed.

塔那巴相信，這隻貓熊寶寶將吸引大批遊客。他說：「我們已經闢了個角落，讓遊客表達他們對小貓熊出生賀喜之意，我們也在趕製貓熊寶寶紀念品。」但他表示，還得等三個月才能開放民眾直接參觀。

The birth was featured on the front pages of many Thai newspapers, which carried photos of the pinkish cub so tiny that it could be held in the hands of a zoo staffer. Others pictures showed the hulking mother Lin Hui gently holding her baby.

泰國多家報紙都在頭版大幅報導貓熊生寶寶的消息，報上登的照片可以看到通體粉紅的貓熊寶寶十分嬌小，園方管理員可以抱在手上。另外還有些照片顯示，身軀笨重龐大的貓熊媽媽林惠溫柔的抱著貝比。

Sophon Damnui, director of the Zoological Park Organization, which oversees all zoos in Thailand said that Lin Hui was “very fond of her baby. She cuddles and licks the baby very carefully all the time,” he said. “She knows how to be a mother even though she has never been one before. And the baby cries loudly and she breast-feeds from her mother very well.”

泰國動物園管理局長宋蓬也表示，林惠「很疼寶寶，時常小心翼翼地摟抱、舔舐寶寶。雖然還是新手媽媽，她已經知道如何當個好媽媽了。寶寶也常哇哇大哭，她已經學會吃母奶。」

The effort for Thailand has been a long and sometimes comical odyssey that started back in 2003 when the zoo borrowed two adult pandas from China. They held a mock wedding for the pair, separated them to spark a little romance and then put the male, Chuang Chuang, on a diet to entice Lin Hui. When that didn't work, they started showing Chuang Chuang porn videos of pandas mating. When that failed, they unsuccessfully tried artificial insemination last year.

泰國投入的心力是條漫長、甚至有時有點有趣的路，整個歷程可以回溯到2003年，當時園方向中國借了兩隻成年的貓熊。他們為這對貓熊舉辦一場模擬婚禮，再把牠們隔離，希望藉此引發一點浪漫火花，再叫公貓熊創創節食，來引誘林惠。當這也行不通時，牠們就開始叫創創看貓熊交配的Ａ片。當這也行不通，他們去年只好開始嘗試人工授精，但也沒有成功。

Pandas are threatened by loss of habitat, poaching and a low reproduction rate. Females in the wild normally have a cub once every two to three years. Only about 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in China's southwestern Sichuan province. An additional 120 are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos, and about 20 live in zoos outside China.

貓熊由於棲息地喪失、偷獵盜捕及繁殖率低而面臨生存威脅。野生母貓熊通常隔兩三年才生一胎。野生貓熊大概只有1,600頭，大部分在中國西南部四川省境內，另外有120頭在中國貓熊養殖場和動物園，還有20頭左右在中國境外的動物園。

Suzanne Braden, the director of the Colorado-based conservation group Pandas International, called the cub's birth in Thailand “superb news and important to the preservation of the species. With such small numbers,every panda birth is extremely significant--especially after the devastation following the 2008 (earthquake in) Sichuan province.”

位於科羅拉多州的「國際貓熊」保育團體負責人蘇珊‧布萊登認為，泰國生出貓熊寶寶是「天大的好消息，對貓熊保育十分重要，全球貓熊這麼稀有，每一次貓熊生寶寶的消息都很有意義，去年川震釀成巨大災變後尤其如此。」

Photo shows seven-year-old panda Lin Hui guarding her newborn at Chiang Mai Zoo May 29, 2009.

圖（路透）為5月29日清邁動物園 7歲大的母貓熊林惠正在照顧剛出生的寶寶。