It's panda-monium! National Zoo says Mei Xiang has twins

August 23, 2015 - 1:48am

Giant Panda Mei Xiang, mother of panda youngster Bao Bao who was born Aug. 23, 2013, sleeps in the indoor habitat at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. The zoo says that the hormone levels of its adult female panda were rising, a sign that she might be pregnant. Mei Xiang, one of the two adult giant pandas which arrived here from China on Dec. 6, 2000, has started to show a secondary rise in her urinary progesterone levels since July 20 after she was artificially inseminated on April 26 and 27, the zoo said in a statement. AP/Jacquelyn Martin

WASHINGTON — The National Zoo in Washington says its adult female panda has had twins.

The first cub was born Saturday at 5:35 p.m. and the zoo said on Twitter that a second was born at 10:07 p.m. The zoo has said both cubs appear healthy.

If the cubs survive, they would be the 17-year-old panda's third and fourth surviving offspring.

Mei Xiang's first cub, Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and returned to China in 2010. Her second cub, Bao Bao, turns 2-years-old on Sunday and still lives at the zoo.

The zoo's chief veterinarian Don Neiffer said earlier in the day after the first cub was born that a second cub was a possibility.

SPONSORED ARTICLES