China-leased giant panda gives birth to twin cubs in S. Korea

Giant panda Hua Ni (Ai Bao) from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, gave birth to twins on Friday in South Korea. 

They are the first pair of giant panda cubs born overseas this year.

In March 2016, Hua Ni and her mate Yuan Xin (Le Bao) were sent to South Korea's Everland Resort from Sichuan province as part of a 15-year giant panda research cooperation program.

In 2020, the pair mated and gave birth to Fu Bao. Three years later, they mated again and produced twins.

Ai Bao, a nine-year-old female, gave birth to the female twin cubs, the first pair of baby pandas in South Korea, on Friday, according to Everland, South Korea's largest theme park in Yongin, some 40 km south of the capital Seoul.

The elder and the younger cubs weighed 180 grams and 140 grams each. South Korea saw the first birth of a baby giant panda, named Fu Bao, on its soil in July 2020.

Everland said that Ai Bao and her newborns remained in good condition. Ai Bao succeeded in natural mating with Le Bao, a 10-year-old male, in the middle of February.