Captive Pandas Have Baby Boom
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BEIJING — Two more pairs of panda twins have been born at Chinese breeding centers, the latest in a miniature baby boom for the rare, endangered animals, government press outlets reported yesterday.
Three of the new babies are female, and the sex of the fourth is unknown because its mother is still holding it, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The births bring to four the number of sets of panda twins born last week at Chinese panda-breeding centers.
China has more than 180 pandas living in captivity, the government said.
A 2002 government census found just 1,596 pandas were left in the wild. But Xinhua said yesterday that a new study by Chinese and British scientists has found as many as 3,000 pandas are left in the wild.
