Twin Baby Panda
Mama Panda Sulin gave birth to twins at Bifengxia.
On August 3rd, returnee panda Sulin gave birth to a set of twin baby pandas at China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center. These are the first twin pandas born this year at the research center.
Sulin and Yuanyuan mated naturally on March 20th according to journalists from Sichuan News. In order to guarantee successful conception, researchers also used Lulu’s seminal fluid for artificial insemination on March 20th and 21th.
Sulin has the baby panda in her mouth (Sichuan News/Luo Bo)
On July 9th, researchers noticed that Sulin started to reduce her diet and predicted her pregnancy. In the early morning of August 3rd, Sulin began her labor. At 4:30 in the afternoon, Sulin had the first baby.
Mama Panda Sulin gives birth (Sichuan News/Luo Bo)
Having a strong maternal instinct, Sulin used her mouth to put the baby into her arms rapidly. But because of her inexperience with babies, Sulin dropped it several times. The researchers picked up the baby panda and started hand-rearing it. Researchers found the baby was male and weighted 173.8 grams (6.13 oz). At 8:45 in the evening, Sulin had her second baby boy.
Researcher checks the first newborn (Sichuan News/Zhao Yan)
It is reported that Sulin was born at the San Diego Zoo in the U.S. on August 2nd, 2005 and came back to the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Ya’an Bifengxia in 2010. In 2011, Sulin finished her first mating and gave birth in Wolong. But later because of her “playful character” and lack of maternal instinct, she was disqualified from the wild training she had been admitted into. Whether she can come back to the training depends on her abilities with baby pandas.
Sulin is an acknowledged “beauty” among pandas, and she has a lot of fans around the world.
Source: Xinhua
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San Diego-Born Panda Gives Birth to Twins
A giant panda born in San Diego is now the mother of twins. Nine-year-old Su Lin gave birth to two panda cubs on Sunday, according to the China News Service. Su Lin lives at the Giant Panda Protection and Research Center of China in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.
Too cute to bear: Su Lin (pictured here as a cub) gave birth to twins of her own on Aug. 4, 2014. (credit: CNBC / Getty Image)
Researchers said one cub is a boy who tipped the scales at 6 ounces. They don’t know the other cub’s gender or weight because mama bear hasn’t put it down since birth, the China News Service reports.
Mama Panda, Su Lin (which translates to “a little bit of something very cute”) was born at the San Diego Zoo in August 2005. Her mother, 22-year-old Bai Yun, still lives at the zoo and is the oldest actively breeding female in captivity. Bai Yun has given birth to six giant panda cubs: Hua Mei, Mei Sheng, Su Lin, Zhen Zhen, Yun Zi and Xiao Liwu.
The San Diego Zoo’s giant pandas are on a research loan from the Chinese government, which can recall the pandas to their native land after they turn 3 years old. Su Lin returned to China in 2010.
So who is the panda twins’ father? That’s not so black and white. Su Lin mated naturally with Yuan Yuan, but was then artificially inseminated by Lu Lu, according to the China News Service. The cubs are expected to take a paternity test in a year or two.
Source: Christina London / NBC 7 San Diego
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Giant panda gives birth to twin cubs – China News