Twin pandas born in S. Korea for the first time

Twin giant panda babies have been born at a South Korean amusement park's zoo.

According to Everland, the country's largest amusement park, Ai Bao and Le Bao, a panda couple on loan from China, had two female babies, on Friday morning. Everland said the first cub was born at 4:52 a.m. and the second at 6:39 a.m., respectively at its zoo in Yongin, south of Seoul. The mother Ai Bao and her newborns are in good condition. The baby pandas weigh 180 grams and 140 grams each, it added.

This is the first public instance of twin pandas being born in Korea. Nearly half of all panda births are twins.

Nine-year-old female Ai Bao became pregnant in February after she succeeded in natural mating with her partner, 10-year-old Le Bao, the company said.

The sole panda couple here arrived from China in 2016 after Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to lease the bears for joint research purposes following his visit to Seoul in 2014.

Their first baby, Fu Bao, a three-year-old female giant panda, was born on July 20, 2020. Fu Bao is scheduled to leave for China to meet her mate next year when she turns four. The specific date has not yet been set.