HONG KONG : After almost ten years of unsuccessful attempts at mating, a giant panda has become the oldest known panda mother to give birth to twins, CNN reported.
The cubs were born early on the eve of Ying Ying’s 19th birthday on Thursday this week, which is comparable to age 57 in humans, a spokesperson for Hong Kong’s Ocean Park said.
Images from the theme park revealed Ying Ying shortly before she gave birth to her twins, the first gigantic pandas to be born in Hong Kong.
The babies were palm-sized, and pink when they were born.
The cubs–a female weighing 122 grams (4.2 ounces) and a male weighing 112 grams (almost 4 ounces)–were born after years of Ying Ying’s fruitless attempts to mate with her companion Le Le, after they were given to the city by the Chinese government in 2007, according to CNN.
“This birth is a true rarity, especially considering Ying Ying is the oldest giant panda on record to have successfully given birth for the first time,” said Paulo Pong, chairman of Ocean Park, in a statement.
“Both cubs are currently very fragile and need time to stabilise, especially the female cub who has a lower body temperature, weaker cries, and lower food intake after birth,” the park said, according to CNN.
The park further added its statement that Ying Ying had suffered a series of miscarriages previously, before these cubs were born.
“Giant pandas have a notoriously difficult time reproducing, especially as they age,” the park statement said further.
Because giant pandas prefer to live alone in their natural environments, they hardly ever mate. Instead, they only have one reproductive phase per year, which lasts for one to three days.
Originally from southwest China, Beijing has worked for decades to increase the number of these famous bears, establishing large reserves that span mountain ranges in an attempt to prevent their extinction.
Although giant pandas are notoriously difficult to produce in captivity, their numbers in the wild have recently rebounded following years of decline.
Approximately 1,800 pandas are thought to be left in the wild, primarily in the Sichuan Mountains in western China, according to CNN.
Beijing lends some of the 600 pandas kept in captivity to roughly 20 different nations. (ANI)