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Giant Panda Gives Birth to Twins
China is celebrating a peak panda propagation period following the birth of twins to an 11- year-old giant panda Saturday morning in the Wolong Giant Panda Protection Research Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.
One of the twins, weighing 177 grams, was taken away from his mother, who is known as "Number 20," to be bottle-fed by center staffers because giant pandas typically can only nurse one offspring.
The panda mother, who was rescued in Baoxing County of Sichuan and sent to the research center in 1990, gave birth to her first cub last year at a relatively late age. Female giant pandas usually are fertile at age four, said Zhang Guiquan, vice director of the research center.
So far, among the 13 pregnant giant pandas in Sichuan Province this year, three have given birth to twins.
Since 1991, over 30 giant pandas have been born in the research center in Wolong and more than 20 survived.
The population of giant pandas around the world stands at about 1,000. Most of these endangered animals live in the mountains in Sichuan Province.
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