19-year-old Hong Kong giant panda gives birth to twins, becomes world’s oldest panda mother.

Hong Kong, Aug 17 (ANI): After nearly ten years of unsuccessful mating attempts, a giant panda has become the oldest known mother panda to give birth to twins, CNN reported.

The cubs were born early on the eve of Ying Ying’s 19th birthday on Thursday this week, which is comparable to a human’s age of 57, a spokesman for Hong Kong’s Ocean Park said.

Footage from the theme park revealed Ying Ying shortly before she gave birth to her twins, the first giant pandas to be born in Hong Kong.

The babies were palm-sized and pink when they were born.

The cubs – a female weighing 122 grams (4.2 ounces) and a male weighing 112 grams (nearly 4 ounces) – were born after years of unsuccessful attempts by Ying Ying to mate with her mate Le Them, after they were given to the city. by the Chinese government in 2007, according to CNN.

“This birth is a true rarity, especially given that Ying Ying is the oldest giant panda in history to successfully give birth for the first time,” Ocean Park President Paulo Pong said in a statement.

“Both cubs are currently very fragile and need time to stabilize, especially the female cub who has a lower body temperature, weaker crying and lower food intake after birth,” the park said, according to CNN.

The park further added the statement that Ying Ying had previously suffered a series of miscarriages before these cubs were born.

“Giant pandas have a notoriously difficult time reproducing, especially as they age,” the park’s statement added.

Because giant bears prefer to live alone in their natural environment, they almost never mate. Instead, they have only one reproductive phase per year, which lasts between one and three days.

Originally from southwest China, Beijing has worked for decades to increase the numbers of these famous bears, establishing large reserves that span mountain ranges in an attempt to prevent their extinction.

Although giant pandas are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, their numbers in the wild have recently rebounded after years of decline.

About 1,800 pandas are believed to be left in the wild, mainly in the Sichuan Mountains of western China, according to CNN.

Beijing loans some of its 600 captive pandas to about 20 different nations. (YEAR)