(6 Dec 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Berlin – 6 December 2024
1. Various of panda cubs in box
2. Berlin mayor Kai Wegner and Chinese ambassador to Germany Deng Hongbo posing with name tags
3. Close of name tags with Chinese names “Meng Hao” and “Meng Tian” and German names “Leni” and “Lotte”
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Deng Hongbo, Chinese ambassador:
++PART OVERLAID BY SHOTS 3 & 5++
“Actually, these two lovely pair of names, in Chinese respectively Meng Hao and Meng Tian, names really rich, refers to “good dream” in Chinese and “sweet dream.” So let us really wish them good health and happiness. And may their dreams come true.”
5. Mid of Panda cub, pan right to other cub
6. Mid of panda cubs being taken away
STORYLINE:
Germany’s new panda twins now have names — or rather, two names apiece.
The two female cubs, born at the Berlin Zoo on Aug. 22, were introduced Friday as Meng Hao and Meng Tian. Alternatively, they answer to the very Berlin names of Leni and Lotti.
The pair, who lay on their bellies on a mattress and peered at photographers as the Chinese ambassador to Germany and Berlin’s mayor unveiled their names, are the second pair of giant pandas to be born in Germany.
The first were their elder siblings Meng Xiang and Meng Yuan, who became far better known by the German names Pit and Paule.
The male cubs were born in August 2019 and were a star attraction in Berlin until they were flown to China nearly a year ago — a trip that was contractually agreed from the start but delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
All are the offspring of mother Meng Meng and father Jiao Qing, who arrived in Berlin in 2017.
Giant pandas have difficulty breeding and births are particularly welcomed. There are about 1,800 pandas living in the wild in China and a few hundred in captivity worldwide.
Meng Meng was artificially inseminated in March. Female pandas are fertile only for a few days per year at the most.
The Berlin Zoo announced Friday that longtime resident giant panda Meng Meng has given birth to twins — for a second time.
The cubs were born on Thursday, the zoo said in a statement. They were born only 11 days after ultrasound scans showed that Meng Meng, 11, was pregnant.
“Now it’s time to keep your fingers crossed for the critical first few days,” the zoo said. The cubs are tiny, weighing just 169 grams and 136 grams (about 6 ounces and 4.8 ounces) respectively, and are about 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) long.
As with other large bears, giant pandas are born deaf, blind and pink. Their black-and-white panda markings only develop later.
“I am relieved that the two were born healthy,” zoo director Andreas Knieriem said. “The little ones make a lively impression and mom Meng Meng takes great care of her offspring.”
The zoo said that giant pandas usually only raise one cub when they give birth to twins, so it will “actively support” Meng Meng’s child care in cooperation with two experts from China’s Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding who are in the German capital.
The cubs will alternate being with their mother every two to three hours to drink milk and are otherwise being cared for in an incubator donated by a Berlin hospital.
Meng Meng and male panda Jiao Qing arrived in Berlin in 2017. In August 2019, Meng Meng gave birth to male twins Pit and Paule, also known by the Chinese names Meng Xiang and Meng Yuan, the first giant pandas born in Germany.
The twins were a star attraction in Berlin, but they were flown to China in December — a trip that was contractually agreed from the start but delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/6751243faffd463d8507def552fe17f0
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in December 11, 2024, 3:05 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
