Olympia: It is a good news for Panda lovers. A rare giant panda called Mei Xiang gave birth to twins on Monday at Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington.
The panda delivered the cubs about four hours apart. The first cub was born around 5:34 pm and the second baby panda at 10:07 pm. The officials of the Zoo confirmed that the baby pandas are healthy. The officials were excited about the news and also released a video on micro-blogging site Twitter. The team began preparations for the birth after they saw the panda’s water break about an hour earlier.
In April, Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated with frozen semen from a male giant panda named Hui Hui that resides at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province. The new mother was also inseminated with fresh semen from the zoo’s male giant panda Tian Tian. The DNA tests will say which is the father.
According to the rules of the Zoo, one baby panda was placed with the mother and the other was placed in an incubator. The officials are expected to rotate the cubs between incubator and mother over next few weeks. The new additions to the National Zoo are likely to be introduced to the public after few months.
In 2005, Mei Xiang gave birth to first cub, Tai Shan and it was returned to China in 2010. Her second baby, Bao Bao, lives at the Zoo and it turned 2 years on Sunday.
