It is rare for giant pandas to have twins – the joy in a Tokyo zoo is all the greater. The birth even made the stock prices of restaurants in the area soar.
Tokyo – Japan is proud to announce the rare birth of two cute panda twins. They are the first twins to be born in Japan’s oldest zoo, the Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo, the zoo management announced.
The 15-year-old mother Shin Shin gave birth to the two in the early hours of the morning. “I was relieved when Shin Shin picked up her baby,” said zoo director Yutaka Fukuda, adding, “I was surprised and truly happy when the second was born.”
It is not known what gender the two babies are. The mother and the two little ones seem to be in good health, it said.
A baby panda lies in an incubator as a precaution
However, since it is rare for a panda to breastfeed two babies at the same time, one of the two twins was placed in an incubator where the little one is cared for. It weighs 124 grams, the zoo said. The two twins have another sibling. Shin Shin and her partner of the same age, Ri Ri, are already parents of four-year-old Xiang Xiang.
The two giant pandas had offspring in July 2012, but the baby died of pneumonia after six days. Shin Shin and Ri Ri were loaned out from China in 2011.
The joyful news of the rare birth of panda twins raised the prices of shares in restaurant operations in the area of the famous zoo. The Japanese love pandas, and so the shopkeepers suffering from the corona pandemic are now expecting a much-needed rush of visitors. Even the government is pleased, with a spokesman calling the news of the birth “very positive”. dpa
