23-year-old giant panda gives birth to twins in China

– A 23-year-old panda had twins on Sunday, breaking the record for the oldest panda to ever give birth.

According to the center, Haizi gave birth to a 175-gram (6 ounces) female and a 123.1-gram male on July 30 at southwest Sichuan province’s Wolong National Nature Reserve, where 21 panda cubs have been born this year.

With only 471 captive pandas worldwide as of the end of previous year, the species is at risk of inbreeding, Xinhua said.

Haizi became pregnant after mating with a panda called Yibao in April. Therefore, the 23-year-old panda named Haizi is around 80 years old in human years.

She came into season this spring.

She surpassed the age of the previous oldest panda mother by one year – the last record-holder was 22 years old, which is equivalent to around 77 human years.

Haizi last delivered a pair of panda twins when she was 19 years old.

To take care of the senior pregnant panda, the center allocated a special vet and breeder and tailored a breeding programme for her, said Li Desheng, a panda zoologist with the center. The cub’s birth is the result of researchers’ efforts to boost the health and genetic diversity of captive pandas by getting them to mate with their forest-dwelling counterparts, Xinhua cited Zhang Zhizhong of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda as saying.