But a 2014 survey estimated that 1,864 were living in the wild. In the 1980s there were as few as 1,114 pandas in China. Panda breeding programs and other efforts to protect what's become something of an unofficial mascot for China have been bearing fruit in recent decades. The pandas at the Qinling Giant Panda Research Center have been breeding a quite a clip in recent years, here an employee helps another mother bear, Ya Ya, feed her cub Image: Zhang Bowen/Xinhua/dpa/picture alliance From endangered to vulnerable as population starts to recover The facility did not provide information on the father, but it has long been commonplace for captive breeding programs to try to use artificial insemination. Pandas are notoriously difficult to motivate to procreate.Īnother pair of twin cubs were born at the facility earlier this month to a different mother Yong Yong. Qin Qin was born in the center, as China steps up its breeding programs in captivity to try to help rebuild panda populations in the wild. The center said that the mother was a panda named Qin Qin, giving birth to her second pair of twins. The Qinling Panda Research Center in Xi'an in Shaanxi province in northwestern China said that both were in good health. State media also showed a short video of the cubs. The male and female cubs weighed 176.4 grams and 151.2 grams respectively, or 6.2 and 5.3 ounces.

Two giant panda bear cubs were born at a breeding center in southwestern China on Tuesday, a further sign of progress for the country's unofficial mascot and a once-endangered animal that can be notoriously difficult to encourage to reproduce.

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