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| Baby panda: Washington zoo's Mei Xiang delivers twins | |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| A giant panda at a zoo in the United States has given birth to twin cubs. | |
| Keepers at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC only discovered Mei Xiang was pregnant during an ultrasound scan last week. The zoo said both cubs appeared healthy. | |
| Giant pandas are one of the most endangered species in the world and are notoriously hard to breed in captivity. | Giant pandas are one of the most endangered species in the world and are notoriously hard to breed in captivity. |
| The National Zoo is one of only four zoos in the US to have pandas, which are on loan from China. | The National Zoo is one of only four zoos in the US to have pandas, which are on loan from China. |
| Mei Xiang, who has two other offspring, is one of the zoo's star attractions and a Panda Cam on her enclosure crashed within seconds of the birth of the first cub being announced because of the volume of interest. | |
| Female pandas are able to conceive for only two or three days a year, leading to a very low reproduction rate. | Female pandas are able to conceive for only two or three days a year, leading to a very low reproduction rate. |
| Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated with sperm from the zoo's resident male Tian Tian and a panda named Hui Hui from Wolong, China. | Mei Xiang was artificially inseminated with sperm from the zoo's resident male Tian Tian and a panda named Hui Hui from Wolong, China. |
| It will not be known for a while which is the father, or what sex the cubs are. | |
| It has previously taken months before Mei Xiang's cubs have been introduced to the public. | It has previously taken months before Mei Xiang's cubs have been introduced to the public. |
| AP news agency reports that her first cub, Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and returned to China in 2010; her second cub, Bao Bao, is two years old on Sunday and still lives at the zoo. | |
| The panda population is threatened by habitat loss as land is increasingly inhabited by humans, with about 1,800 pandas left in the wild in China. | The panda population is threatened by habitat loss as land is increasingly inhabited by humans, with about 1,800 pandas left in the wild in China. |
| However, the number living in the wild in China has gone up over the last 10 years. | However, the number living in the wild in China has gone up over the last 10 years. |