Giant panda Xin Xin gives birth to panda cub

A photo shows giant panda Xin Xin and her cub resting inside the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center's Shenshuping base in Wolong town, Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province. (Photo/China News Service)

The China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center announced on June 21 that, on May 29, giant panda Xin Xin gave birth to a cub at the Shenshuping base in Wolong town, Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture, Sichuan province. This is the first cub born by the center's captive giant pandas this year, indicating the beginning of the giant pandas' "cub season".

"In late February this year, the female giant panda Xin Xin and the male giant panda Hua Yang naturally mated successfully. After about two months, Xin Xin showed signs of pregnancy such as reduced eating and increased activity. On May 28, she showed prenatal irritability and gave birth to a cub at 22:51 on May 29," said Yang Changjiang, the breeding director of the center's Wolong Shenshuping base.

Wei Rongping, the giant panda base's director, said that Xin Xin is experienced in being a panda mother, and the whole pregnancy process was very smooth. At present, both mother and cub are in good health under the care of the keepers. The cub has exceeded 700 grams at the age of nearly one month. "The cub seems to be a female according to current observation," he said.

Before Xin Xin gave birth, the breeding team of the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center took turns on duty 24 hours a day through remote video surveillance and on-site observation, monitoring Xin Xin's physiological behavior and analyzing the health of Xin Xin and her cub.

The China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center has created the world's largest captive population of giant pandas as the problem of panda breeding was solved in the 1990s. Now, the breeding and population of captive giant pandas is no longer a problem, so the scientists and researchers are concentrating more on the quality of giant panda breeding and protection of genetic diversity.