First natural bred baby giant panda born at Tokyo zoo

A natural bred panda cub was born Thursday at Tokyo Ueno Zoo, the first such case in 24 years, a zoo official said.

Female giant panda, Shin Shin, gave birth to the baby after she was reported by Zoo officials to have shown signs of pregnancy in early June.

The panda pair currently at the Tokyo Ueno Zoo are female Shin Shin and male Ri Ri. They arrived in Tokyo from China in February 2011, and made public debut soon after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster last year.

It marks the first time in 24 years that the oldest zoo in Japan, since 1882, has witnessed successful natural breeding of giant pandas.

Zoo officials have earlier suspended public visits of the female panda from June 30 due to its physical conditions. The sex of the baby panda remains unknown so far.