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Giant panda gives birth to surprise twins
Vienna’s famous Schoenbrunn Zoo has welcomed two gorgeous new arrivals to the world as a giant panda on loan from China has given birth to naturally conceived twins.
The two panda cubs, pink, hairless and measuring in at 15 centimetres each, arrived on August 7 and came as quite a surprise to the zookeepers, who didn’t expect a second.
The panda’s mother, Yang Yang, gave birth inside a dark nesting box observed via an infra-red camera, so it was initially believed she only gave birth to one.
In fact a week had passed before keepers noticed the second!
Zoologist Eveline Dungl said, “The cubs have little round bellies and panda mummy Yang Yang is very relaxed. You rarely see them because Yang Yang constantly warms them between her paws ... What you can hear very clearly are their suckling and grunting noises when she feeds or licks them.”
In line with Chinese tradition, Yang Yang’s cubs will not be named until 100 days due to the low survival rate of newborns, but the siblings appear to be doing well.
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As we can see in the video above Yang Yang seems absolutely smitten with her new cubs.
Don’t you just love pandas? What’s your favourite animal?
Let us know in the comments.
Video credit: YouTube / Associated Press
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Can you see the 15 pandas in this picture?