Photo taken on Aug. 22, 2020 shows giant panda Yongyong and its cub at the Qinling research center of giant panda breeding in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Yongyong gave birth to a female cub weighing 152 grams on Monday. (Xinhua/Zhang Bowen)
XI'AN, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- A captive giant panda has given birth to twin cubs at a breeding base in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
The first female cub was born at 1:04 p.m. Saturday, weighing 136 grams, while her younger sister popped out at 1:52 p.m., weighing 127 grams, said the Qinling panda breeding and research center.
The twins' mother Qinqin, born in 2013, is the first giant panda reared in captivity at the research center.
On Aug. 17, the first panda cub was born this year at the center, and its six-year-old mother Yongyong is the youngest panda mother to successfully give birth to a cub at the center.
"In 2020, a total of six giant pandas successfully mated at the center. After Yongyong and Qinqin, there are still four pandas waiting for labor," said Zhang Danhui, a veterinarian with the center.
The number of captive pandas stood at about 600 globally as of November last year. Fewer than 2,000 pandas live in the wild, mostly in the provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi. ■
