Updated 03.05 | Published 01.57
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full screen One of the two newborn panda cubs is measured by staff at the zoo in Berlin. Photo: Zoo Berlin/AP/TT
Double panda luck prevails at Zoo Berlin, the zoo announces. A pair of twins were born the other day to giant panda Meng Meng, who gave birth to the tiny cubs just eleven days after it was revealed she was pregnant.
The twins weigh only 169 and 136 grams, respectively, and they are around 14 centimeters long. Their gender has so far not been able to be determined with certainty.
“Now is the time to cross our fingers for the critical first days,” the zoo wrote in a statement after the birth.
Panda cubs are born deaf, blind and pink. Their characteristic black and white coat develops later.
It is the second time 11-year-old Meng Meng has given birth to twins. Five years ago, she had Pit and Paule, who also go by the Chinese names Meng Xiang and Meng Yuan. They were the first giant pandas to be born in Germany and they have been huge crowd magnets in Berlin until they were moved to China last winter.
There are about 1,800 wild giant pandas in China and a few hundred in captivity worldwide.