Gift giant panda, 8, from mainland gives birth
Source: AFP |
July 7, 2013, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A FEMALE giant panda given by the Chinese mainland as a gift to Taiwan more than four years ago gave birth to a cub yesterday after being artificially inseminated, the Taipei city government said.
Yuan Yuan and her partner Tuan Tuan have become star attractions at Taipei Zoo since their arrival from the mainland in late 2008 amid improving ties between the two sides.
But after years of hoping for a natural pregnancy, which are rare in captivity, the zoo carried out three artificial insemination sessions in March and announced in late June that Yuan Yuan showed signs of pregnancy. She was born in September 2004.
"Taipei mayor Hao Lung-bin is very pleased to learn that Yuan Yuan successfully gave birth to a cub at 8:05pm. ... Taipei City will take good care of Yuan Yuan, Tuan Tuan and the newborn," a statement said.
The city government said it will share the happy news with the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan Province, where the couple came from.
The island will be allowed to keep the cub as the panda couple is a gift, not a loan by the mainland.
Beijing usually only loans its pandas and any progeny must be sent to China. The mainland's decision to give Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan to Taiwan was a symbolic gesture to show warming ties between the two sides. Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan together means reunion.
Fewer than 1,600 pandas remain in the wild, mainly in Sichuan Province, with around 300 in captivity around the world.
Yuan Yuan and her partner Tuan Tuan have become star attractions at Taipei Zoo since their arrival from the mainland in late 2008 amid improving ties between the two sides.
But after years of hoping for a natural pregnancy, which are rare in captivity, the zoo carried out three artificial insemination sessions in March and announced in late June that Yuan Yuan showed signs of pregnancy. She was born in September 2004.
"Taipei mayor Hao Lung-bin is very pleased to learn that Yuan Yuan successfully gave birth to a cub at 8:05pm. ... Taipei City will take good care of Yuan Yuan, Tuan Tuan and the newborn," a statement said.
The city government said it will share the happy news with the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan Province, where the couple came from.
The island will be allowed to keep the cub as the panda couple is a gift, not a loan by the mainland.
Beijing usually only loans its pandas and any progeny must be sent to China. The mainland's decision to give Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan to Taiwan was a symbolic gesture to show warming ties between the two sides. Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan together means reunion.
Fewer than 1,600 pandas remain in the wild, mainly in Sichuan Province, with around 300 in captivity around the world.
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