Germany’s Berlin Zoo is celebrating the birth of twin panda cubs to 11-year-old mother Meng Meng. The cubs, born last Thursday, are in good health and spending time cuddling with their mother and feeding every hour. Due to the high mortality rate among panda cubs within the first month, the zoo is cautiously optimistic and has implemented protective measures to ensure the cubs’ survival.
Unlike in the wild where one of the twins might not have made it, the zoo’s intervention, including a team of experts from China’s Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, has been crucial. One cub stays with the mother while the other receives care in an incubator provided by a Berlin hospital. The zoo director emphasized the importance of each healthy cub in the conservation of the endangered species.
The black-and-white panda markings of the twins will develop later as they are currently deaf, blind, and pink in color. The firstborn twin weighs 180 grams, while the second weighs around 145 grams, showing positive signs of growth. Their gender has not been determined yet, and they were born following artificial insemination on March 26.
Meng Meng, along with the twins’ father Jiao Qing, who is not involved in rearing the cubs, arrived in Berlin in 2017. In 2019, Meng Meng gave birth to male twins, who were the first giant pandas born in Germany. Those twins were sent to China in December under an agreed-upon contract, delayed due to the pandemic. China’s panda diplomacy involves loaning pandas to zoos worldwide, as part of conservation efforts for the species.
