Over Half Pandas Growing in Pens Have Twin Babies: ExpertChinese are expecting to have more giant panda cubs as 13 mother pandas in pens are likely to have babies this year.The number of new-born giant pandas is most probably to surpass 13 since more than half of the pregnant pandas growing in pens have been found to give birth to twins, experts in southwest China 's giant panda reproduction base said Saturday. Statistics show that since 1963, 43 giant pandas living in pens in China and foreign countries, or half of the total, have given birth to twins. To ensure giant pandas could be pregnant, experts often conduct artificial insemination on female pandas with the sperm from at least two or more male pandas, said Yu Jianqiu, deputy director of a giant panda reproduction base in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province. This gives giant pandas much possibility to have twin babies, he said. To date, there is only one registered case of wild giant panda giving birth to twins, the expert said. |
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