New panda cub born in Sichuan

A new female panda cub was born in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province on Sunday.

The birth, which occurred at 9:33 pm, brings the number of pandas in the base to 110.

The mother panda, who was born in August 2006 and nicknamed Little Girl by her keeper, was artificially inseminated,said base chief Zhang Zhihe.

On July 1, she started eating less. After more than 40 days of underfeeding, she became irritable and walked continuously on Saturday.

After more than eight hours of labor pains, she gave birth to a female cub weighing 124 grams,Zhang said.

Both the mother and cub are in stable condition, he added.