A baby grey seal was born last week in a zoo at Qingdao, Shandong Province, but faced an immediate life-threatening situation when its mother failed to produce milk to feed it./CFP Photo

On Tuesday, the zoo announced that they’d successfully saved the little seal from a premature death by feeding it by hand, which has become the first success story in China that the northern Atlantic seal survived without direct parental attention. /CFP Photo

The baby seal has grown to weigh 12 kilograms after its breeders took a ‘24/7’ shift to take care of it during the past few weeks and was finally allowed to be let out of its care on Tuesday. The seal has learned how to swim and hunt for food (mainly small fish) on its own, according to the zoo. /CFP Photo

Grey seals form a large constituent of the sea mammal family, originating in the areas along the coast of northern Atlantic, and is not native to Chinese waters. /CFP Photo