MADRID, Spain (Oct. 8) -- Baby panda twins have made their media debut at the Madrid Zoo, 30 days after they became the first pandas born from artificial insemination outside China.

The cubs have been bottle-fed milk and kept in an incubator since their birth Sept. 7. Spanish television on Thursday showed them curled up together on a mattress, seeming to hold hands with their tiny claws. Each animal is a little bit larger than a human hand and weighs about 2 pounds. They won't be named until they're 100 days old, in keeping with Chinese custom, and their gender is still unknown, CBS News reported.

The twins are the first pandas to be born in Spain since 1982, and only the third litter ever to be born in Europe, Chinese veterinarian Yuan Bo told China's Xinhua news agency. Yuan traveled to Spain to attend the pandas' birth and assist in their care. The artificial insemination of the pandas' mother, Hua Zui Ba, was part of a joint effort by Chinese scientists and Spain's National Research Council.

"It is very important because this is an animal that is crucial within the world program for conservation, because there are only a few of them," Madrid Zoo's chief veterinarian, Maria del Cloux, told The Guardian. "Having two more is a great addition to the program; there are about 300 animals at the moment, and two more is a significant addition."

The babies' mother and father, Bing Xing, were gifts from the Chinese government to Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia during their 2007 visit to China.

Giant panda populations used to flourish in southern and eastern China, but experts believe there are only about 1,600 left living in the wild. Their habitat has been eradicated by deforestation and development.

there is a video here...

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/madrids-cute-little-panda-cubs-make-debut/19666064?test=latestnews

pandas are so cute,,,


did you hear that story about the guy who had a full grown tiger and a 12 foot alligator living in his High rise apartment with him?


saw it on some show last night,, INCREDIBLE...

.my sprinklers cant even go off at the wrong time without neighbors noticing,,lol

ugh... thats insane...wonder what it smelled like in there?

I hadnt even thought of that, I think he was some type of wildlife caretaker in his career and decided to raise them at home,,,but I do wonder how he managed the clean up,,,

thats what i was thinking... not like taking a gator or a tiger for a walk would get noticed or anything...