Three panda cubs born within a week at center in Xi'an

Zhang said the elder daughter of Qin Qin was born at 1:04 pm on Saturday and the younger one was born about 50 minutes later. Preliminary examinations showed the two babies were in good health, with the older one weighing 136 g and the younger one 127 g.

Zhang said Qin Qin got pregnant in February and had one of the longest pregnancies among all the pandas in the Qinling Mountains.

"The average duration of pregnancy for most pandas is about 140 days, while that of Qin Qin lasted for 180 days, which was beyond our expectations," he said.

Zhang said six female pandas at the center got pregnant this year. The other four will soon give birth, adding to the panda family at the center.

Although it was officially founded in Zhouzhi county, Xi'an, in June 2018, the Qinling Panda Breeding and Research Center started its work more than a decade ago, focusing on panda protection, breeding and research in the Qinling Mountains, which stretch through the southern part of Shaanxi and act as the geographical boundary between southern and northern China.

The center has bred 24 panda cubs since 2003 and now has 31 captive-bred pandas.