(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) – A giant panda at a South Korean zoo has given birth to the country’s first twin cubs.
The palm-sized female pandas were born at the Everland Resort theme park southeast of the capital Seoul on July 7, the zoo said in a statement Tuesday.
Video posted to YouTube showed their mother Ai Bao picking up the first cub, weighing 180 grams (6 ounces), with her mouth, then delivering the second cub, weighing 140 grams, an hour later.
The twins’ birth is considered rare – there’s less than a 50% chance of pandas giving birth to twins – and in the wild, they struggle to survive as mothers can often only care for one of their cubs.
Both the mother and her offspring are in good health, the zoo said in a statement, with staff providing postpartum care based on their experience helping the now 9-year-old deliver her first cub, Fu Bao, three years ago.
