Six pandas born in baby boom at China reserve

A panda at the Beijing Zoo watches her newborn cub, one of six cubs born over four days

August 11, 2000
Web posted at: 12:11 PM EDT (1611 GMT)

BEIJING (Reuters) -- China's Wolong Giant Panda Reserve has had a baby boom with six cubs born in four days, scientists said on Friday.

Ten-year-old mother Bai Xue (White Snow) bore twins last Sunday and two days later a female known as Number 20 had a cub. Another set of twins and a single cub were born on Thursday, the panda researchers said.

The cubs were in good health and receiving round-the-clock care at the 494,200-acre reserve in the southwestern province of Sichuan, they added.

The giant panda is China's national symbol. But it is an endangered species, with just 1,000 animals believed to exist in the wild, where they are threatened by human encroachment and the rampant logging that has plagued China's forests.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Animal world

In the wild, pandas roam the mountainous areas in China's provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi.

Pandas have given birth to 45 cubs at Wolong since the reserve was set up in 1963. Thirty-two of these have survived.

The females bred naturally, but to enhance their chances also received artificial insemination, the panda experts said.

The births came a week after Beijing Zoo's giant panda Lele gave birth to twin cubs. The zoo had to set up a telephone hotline to locate dogs to nurse a cub being neglected by its milk-deficient mother.

State media said last month Wolong's giant panda population had been boosted by a 37-year effort to replace farmland with forest, relocate farmers and improve the reserve's air and water quality.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

U.S. zoos go panda-crazy because of crowd-drawing appeal
June 2, 2000
Preparing for panda-monium
April 17, 2000
Rare pandas are giant hit in Hong Kong
May 17, 1999
For pandas, familiarity breeds contempt, not cubs
February 19, 1999
Pandas making the move to Hong Kong
January 10, 1999

Everything You Need to Know About the Giant Panda©: Wolong Reservation

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.