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Alien-like panda twin cubs born in China

The hairless pair is seen playing and wriggling in their incubator

Linda Sharkey
Thursday 03 July 2014 16:02 BST
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Alien-like panda twin cubs were born at a panda breeding centre in Chengdu, China.

The tiny, hairless pair is seen playing together in their incubator. The male and female, who weighed 146g and 117a respectively at birth, are heard squawking and seen wriggling and being bottle-fed.

Earlier this year, the first captive-bred giant panda to be born in 2014 was delivered at the Bifengxia Panda Base in China. This week, giant panda mother Yaxing gives birth to the twins at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, being her second and third offspring.

Giant pandas typically care for only one of the cubs when twins are born - which usually leads to only one of the twins surviving. But in order to save both, zookeepers are taking care of them.

Once the cubs are able to walk on their own, they will be allowed to go outside with their mother.

Less than 1,600 giant pandas are believed to be living in the wild and 300 live in captivity around the world. The giant panda lives mainly in the mountains of China's southwestern province of Sichuan and northwestern provinces Shaanxi and Gansu. They are threatened by habitat loss and a very low birthrate.

Pandas are known for being sexually inactive and cubs are usually born between July and September.

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