Giant
panda Ying Ying gave birth to twins at the Wolong Giant Panda
Protection and Research Center in Sichuan
Province. The twins are the first pair to be born in China this
year, the State Forestry Administration (SFA) announced on
Tuesday.
Although Sunday's delivery took 13 hours, mother and cubs are
doing well, Cao Qingyao, an SFA spokesman, said.
"This marks the beginning of the year's breeding season for
China's captive giant pandas," he added.
One of the cubs was taken away from its mother because pandas
usually only nurse one cub at a time. Experts will hand rear the
cub before returning it to Ying Ying's care, Cao said.
In captivity, pandas usually have a difficult time conceiving,
carrying their pregnancies to full term and looking after their
newly born cubs. However, Cao said the center has effectively
solved these three problems thanks to 12 years of careful study of
their breeding patterns.
A total of 74 cubs were born at the center between 1991 and
2005, of which 61 have survived. There are currently 82 pandas at
the center.
Last month, the center presented two of its pandas to Taiwan as
a gift.
At the end of last year, there were 163 giant pandas being kept
in captivity throughout China, 70 percent of which were raised by
humans and more than half of which live at the Wolong center.
The giant panda is one of the most endangered species in the
world. China has 1,590 pandas in the wild, living in habitats
covering more than 23,000 square kilometers across the western
provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, according to the latest
SFA inventory.
By the end of 2004, 65 nature reserves had been set up for giant
pandas to bring 50 percent of their habitat under effective
protection.
(China Daily, China.org.cn?July 6, 2005)
