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Giant panda Ying Ying gives birth to twins

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The giant panda Ying Ying is now the mother of twins. Ying Ying lives in Ocean Park, a theme park in Hong Kong. After a five-hour labor, her cubs greeted her Thursday morning with these screechy cries.

(SOUNDBITE OF PANDA CUBS CRYING)

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Aww (ph). The theme park said in a statement that the birth is a true rarity because Ying Ying is the world's oldest first-time panda mom. She delivered the newborns the day before her 19th birthday.

SHAPIRO: And unlike a human birth, where you have many months of signs that a baby is on the way, the park says panda pregnancies can be hard to detect. Ying Ying started showing signs she might be pregnant in late July, and veterinarians confirmed that just four days before she gave birth, using an ultrasound.

CHANG: The cubs themselves are adorable, but they don't look much like giant pandas yet. For one, they are not giant. The male and female cubs are just about 4 ounces each and fit in the palm of your hand.

SHAPIRO: They're not black and white, either. They are small and pink with white hairs all over their bodies, tiny little nubbins for ears and bald stubby tails.

CHANG: The park says, it'll be a few months before the fragile cubs are ready for their public debut. Until then, we wish them and their mom a speedy recovery. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Gurjit Kaur
Gurjit Kaur is a producer for NPR's All Things Considered. A pop culture nerd, her work primarily focuses on television, film and music.
Christopher Intagliata is an editor at All Things Considered, where he writes news and edits interviews with politicians, musicians, restaurant owners, scientists and many of the other voices heard on the air.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.