A panda cub born a few weeks ago in an artificial breeding environment is doing very well in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province, which is home to the largest number of wild giant pandas in the world.  

The cub, born at the beginning of this month, was one of twins, and the other twin was still-born.

Now the cub, the first born alive in artificial environment in Shaanxi province, and her mother, Xue Xue, are both in good health, according to the Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue Center, where the cub was born.

In almost the past four decades after the first artificially bred panda was born in China in 1963, only 24 percent of female pandas in captivity became pregnant and gave birth. The center, which now has five pandas, has been trying hard to artificially breed giant pandas since the early 1980s, but never succeeded. This year, the center worked in cooperation with the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base in southwestern Sichuan Province, and worked out detailed plans for the reproduction.

This March, Xue Xue entered oestrum, staff at the center brought male panda Ping Ping to her and after the natural copulation, the staff also artificially inseminated her.

At 3:54 p.m. on August 2, Xue Xue gave birth to the first baby and, at 5:37 p.m., it delivered the other.

The second one, weighing only 87 g, was a dead fetus.

There are only approximately 1,000 wild pandas living around the world, mainly scattering in the outlying mountains in China's western Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The number of pandas in captivity worldwide stands at around 100.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2003)