Rare panda triplets born in China

China announced the extremely rare birth of panda triplets in a further success for the country’s artificial breeding programme.

The three cubs were born on July 29 in the southern city of Guangzhou, but breeders delayed an announcement until they were sure all three would survive, the official China News Service said.

The mother, Ju Xiao, and the three as-yet-unnamed cubs are healthy, the news agency said.

Photos showed the three sleeping and standing in their incubator, their bodies pink and mostly hairless. Ju Xiao was impregnated in March with sperm from a panda living at a Guangzhou zoo.

Ju Xiao was under round-the-clock care for the final weeks of her pregnancy, according to the report. The triplets were born within four hours of each other.

Meanwhile, Scotland’s giant panda Tian Tian is believed to be pregnant and may give birth by the end of the month. Keepers at Edinburgh Zoo have been monitoring Tian Tian since she was artifically inseminated on April 13.