Inputs by Anirudh Bhargava
Pune, Aug 4: In the Beauval Zoo, France, a giant panda has given birth to a pair of twins. The mother, Huan Huan, and the father, Yuan Zi, were on a loan for ten years from China.
Both the cubs were healthy, lively, pink, and plump. The cubs weighed 149 grams and 129 grams (an incredibly good weight for new-born giant pandas). The first cub was born at 1:03 a.m. and the second cub was born at 1:10 a.m. on August 2nd, 2021. The parents, Huan Huan and Yuan Zi, already have a 4-year-old named Yuan Meng, who was born on August 4th, 2017. Yuan Meng was the first Giant Panda born in France.
This is a rare occurrence as Giant Pandas have difficulty breeding and though the birth of twins among giant pandas is common, the chances of both cubs surviving is very low.
The pandas will be named after they are 100 days old. They will spend a few years in France before being sent to China.
Giant pandas are native to China. China has been gifting pandas to international zoos in what is known as ‘Panda Diplomacy’. Recently, it has started loaning pandas to zoos commercially.
We bring you a photo journey of the twins. All the images are from the press release and Twitter account of the Beauval Zoo.
