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on august 16, 2024, ying ying gave birth to the first pair of giant panda twins born in hong kong, china. (@visualchinaphoto)

after 13 years of hard work, they finally had a child in their old age.

written by xu xinmeng

congratulations! after more than a decade of hard work, a couple finally had a child, a pair of twins, when they were about to enter old age.

the couple is named "le le" and "ying ying". they are the second pair of giant pandas presented by the central government to the hong kong special administrative region on the 10th anniversary of hong kong's return to china. since 2011, they have been trying natural mating and artificial reproduction under the arrangement of hong kong ocean park.

after 13 years of hard work, it finally came to fruition. on august 15, the hong kong sar government announced that ying ying gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, after five hours of labor. with just one day left before her 19th birthday, she became the oldest giant panda in recorded history to successfully give birth for the first time.

for humans, 19 is the early years of adulthood, the right age to go to college, but giant pandas enter old age at 20, so 19 is considered "approaching old age."

"yingying"'s two children are very small. the brother and sister weigh just over 110 grams each, which is about the same weight as a pack of instant noodles. an adult can hold them in one hand.

how did the giant panda, which is so large in stature, give birth to such tiny cubs? can these twin babies survive?

the smallest baby bear in the world

in the guinness world records, there are many entries related to giant pandas, such as the first giant panda twins "he he" and "mei mei" born from the wild introduction of captive giant pandas and surviving; the first giant panda triplets "meng shuai ku" successfully bred artificially; the oldest giant panda "xin xing" who lived to 38 years old (equivalent to 114 years old in human terms)...

what is less well known is that the size difference between adult giant pandas and their cubs is also a world record. newborn giant panda cubs weigh an average of only 130 grams, which is only 1/900 of their mother's weight, making them "the lightest placental mammals compared to adults."

although yingying's two children are light, they are not far from the average level and are within the normal range.

starting from the weight of a piece of instant noodles, the giant panda baby did everything it could to grow up. laurie thompson, assistant curator of giant pandas at the national zoo of the united states, who witnessed the birth of twins by mei xiang, said: "after they were born, mei xiang's babies sucked breast milk 14 times a day. in less than a week, they gained about 50% of their original weight."

even if they use all their strength to suckle, they still have a long way to go if they want to grow into giant pandas that can move independently.

many animals, such as horses, can stand up 15 minutes to half an hour after birth, but giant panda babies cannot open their eyes until 6 to 8 weeks later, can barely stand after 80 to 100 days, and can walk freely after 4 months.

when they are just born, not only do they not have complete sensory organs, they cannot see or hear anything, and they are unable to complete basic instinctive activities independently, such as regulating body temperature and defecation on their own. they can only rely on their mothers to hold them to maintain their body temperature and lick their bellies to help them defecate.

twin swap

life is full of problems, and so are giant pandas. after delivering yingying, the staff soon discovered that the giant panda mother did not have enough milk. newborn cubs rely mainly on breast milk to survive, so the zoo had to borrow giant panda breast milk reserves from the mainland.

moreover, the two cubs cannot appear in front of their mother at the same time. they can only take turns meeting and getting along with their mother every once in a while.

it is not uncommon for giant pandas to give birth to twins, with a probability of up to 45%. however, it is rare for twins to grow up together safely. in the 1980s, only 35% of cubs survived, and the probability of two cubs surviving at the same time was even smaller.

"because the mother's natural instinct is to choose the stronger of the two cubs and give up the other one," said marc brody, founder and president of the nonprofit panda mountain. "she doesn't have enough milk or energy to take care of both cubs at the same time."

the mother is too busy to take care of both cubs, and the father is even less reliable. therefore, the breeders invented a method to help it balance the care of the two cubs by "swapping twins".

keepers regularly rotate the cubs cared for by the mother panda and place the other one in the incubator, using a series of artificial means to simulate maternal care, such as feeding with a filtered mixture of milk, human infant formula and puppy formula, wiping the anus with moist cotton balls to encourage defecation, and turning on the air conditioner to ensure a constant temperature.

the giant panda ying ying living in hong kong ocean park. (@visualchinaphoto)

it sounds simple, but it's actually a difficult job. keepers must quietly walk up to the panda mother and gently replace one cub with another without disturbing it. if they are not careful, they may be attacked by the panda mother who is eager to protect her cub. in 2015, "mei xiang" often did not cooperate with the work. the national zoo panda team reported that they had spent "many challenging nights." a week later, the weaker cub died.

however, overall, this method has increased the survival rate of giant panda cubs to over 90%, and has been widely recognized by breeding institutions around the world.

why are the cubs "half-cooked"

"it was basically immature (at birth)," said peishu li, a researcher at duke university. the baby panda was hastily born before its bones and internal organs were fully developed. this is why they need careful care and is one of the reasons why giant pandas are endangered.

why giant pandas chose this way of reproduction during the evolution of biological systems remains an unsolved mystery in the scientific community.

giant pandas belong to the bear family. there is a famous view that because the bear's pregnancy period coincides with the hibernation period, pregnant mother bears can only break down their own muscle and fat to provide nutrition for the fetus. in order not to threaten their health, bears choose to shorten the pregnancy time and transfer the remaining development outside the womb.

however, giant pandas do not have the habit of hibernating. therefore, some people attribute the uniqueness of pandas to their eating habits of eating only bamboo. li peishu said that "there is very little relevant data" and it is still impossible to draw a conclusion.

kathleen smith, a professor of biology at duke university, and her team provided another analysis from the perspective of pregnancy. they found that unlike most mammals, the fertilized eggs of bears do not implant into the uterine wall for development as soon as possible, but float in the uterus for several months before "delaying implantation", so the cubs are generally disproportionately small; and pandas are different from most bears. after the fertilized eggs are implanted, the embryos of other bears will continue to develop for two months, while the panda embryos will end their development after one month, becoming the smallest bear baby to come into the world.

scientists may still be far from the truth. fortunately, yingying's children don't have to worry about these problems. the mother panda still can't take care of two panda cubs at the same time, but humans have learned it.

as of press time, the health of the two panda babies has gradually stabilized, and they have gained dozens of grams. the classic "dark circles" under their eyes, black ears and shoulders are already faintly visible.