By CGTN's Liu Yang

On April 24, the first giant panda twins of the year were born in captivity at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. 

The two healthy males, weighing 104.9 grams and 110.7 grams, are the first offspring of mother Zhizhi, who gave birth at the Chengdu giant panda breeding research center in southwest China's Sichuan province.

On March 29, the mother "Zhi Zhi" began to eat a small amount of bamboo shoots and showed signs of labor. Experts at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding say that this is the first litter of Zhi Zhi. When she saw the newborn cub, she was afraid and anxious, not only not wanting to hold the cub, but moved herself to the corner against wall. 

The breeders have tried to give the cub back to the new mother, but she just occasionally glanced at the cub, or ignored the baby panda, or just fell asleep without holding the baby. This has brought great difficulty for the newborn, and since it didn't get enough milk from the mother, it is hard for the newborn to survive.

After more than 20 days of the best care from the team, the mother is now healthy and producing enough milk for the young. At present, the twins have passed the critical period, as of May 22, the newborn giant pandas weigh in 852g and 844g, respectively.

CGTN Photo

The giant panda was an endangered species, due to their notoriously low reproduction rate. According to statistics, the giant panda’s natural habitat in the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi have expanded. However, protecting their habitat and their living ecosystem still requires long-term efforts, and it’s important that their natural habitat remains unthreatened.

On one hand, the current giant panda’s population has grown steadily. But on the other hand, we see that the entire ecosystem and habitat for the giant panda and related animals is still being threatened.” In 1995, there were only about 1,000 wild giant pandas. Now, according to the statistics, the wild giant pandas has population of 1864, and that population has been divided in the 33 locations, among which giant pandas in 22 locations has population less than 30, with at risk of extinction, it is necessary to carry out the program of training the captive pandas to back to live in the wild.