Hong Kong sees birth of first giant panda twins
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong has seen the birth of its first-ever giant panda twins. Ocean Park’s Ying Ying gave birth to a male and female on Thursday, one day before her 19th birthday, the park announced in a press release.
Ocean Park chair Paulo Pong said in the Thursday statement that they were thrilled with the new arrivals, as he thanked the government and Beijing: “We would like to express our gratitude for the continued support and generosity of the Central Government, whose unwavering commitment to Hong Kong has made this possible. The HKSAR Government’s decision to entrust the pandas to Ocean Park also allows us to play an active role in the conservation of this precious species.”
“This birth is a true rarity, especially considering Ying Ying is the oldest giant panda on record to have successfully given birth for the first time,” he added.
The park said that Ying Ying demonstrated a decreased appetite, increased rest time, and changes in hormonal levels towards the end of July, suggesting she was pregnant. An ultrasound on August 11 confirmed the pregnancy, which are often hard to detect in pandas.
Labour symptoms began on Wednesday, and Ying Ying’s amniotic fluid broke around 10pm that evening.
The panda, a first-time mother, lay on the ground twisting during the labour. Experts provided comfort “allowing Ying Ying to safely deliver the twin cubs at 2:05am and 3:27am respectively on 15 August following over five hours of labour. The female giant panda cub weighs 122g, and the male giant panda cub weighs 112g, in order of birth,” the park said.
Both cubs are fragile and need time to stabilise, the statement said, “especially the female cub who has a lower body temperature, weaker cries, and lower food intake after birth.”
Visitors will need to wait a few months before their public debut.
New pandas arriving
Hong Kong is expected to receive a pair of adult giant pandas from the central government on China’s National Day this October 1.
The Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration chose a pair of giant pandas, aged between five and eight, as a to gift to Hong Kong, Chief Executive John Lee told the press last month during a visit to Sichuan.
Hailed as China’s national treasure, giant pandas have long been used by Beijing as diplomatic gifts. But animal welfare NGO People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has called on China to cease the practice, after a 24-year-old male giant panda named Le Le died at Memphis Zoo in the US in February.
According to Ocean Park’s estimates, there are fewer than 1,900 giant pandas in the wild. Their habitats were “highly fragmented by human activities,” the park said, adding many giant pandas had no way to travel to a new areas to find food or mates with another group. Their survival was also complicated by their short mating periods.
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https://hongkongfp.com/2024/08/15/breaking-hong-kong-sees-birth-of-first-giant-panda-twins/