PROUD MOTHER: Huan Huan with his two new knuckles. Photo: GUILLAUME SOUVANT / AFP
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Panda Huan Huan gave birth to two twins Monday night, according to the Beauval Zoo. This is the second time a panda has given birth in France.
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The two twins, who were born around 1 o’clock, are the third pups of Huan Huan and his partner Yuan Zi. When baby Yuan Meng was born in 2017, it was the first panda birth in France ever.
– The two kids are pink. They are in very nice shape. They look big enough and are magnificent, said Rodolphe Delord, who is the leader of the zoo.
It is very difficult for pandas to mate, both in captivity and in the open. The female is only susceptible to fertilization for one to two days a year, and in captivity the panda males often show no interest in the act at all.
Still, Huan Huan and Yuan Zi managed to mate eight times in March – to the great excitement and surprise of the animal keepers.
Yuan Meng, Huan Huan’s firstborn, now weighs more than 100 kilos and will be sent to China during the year, where around 1,800 pandas live freely, while another 500 are in captivity.
The twins of Huan Huan, who is on loan from China, will not be named for 100 days. The task of finding names for them is given to Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the zoo says.
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