Panda tale of survival
July 7th 2008 03:03
Proud mother: Chinese earthquake survivor Guo Guo carries in her mouth one of two giant panda cubs born on July 6
Picture: Xinhua
The mother of the two cubs, Guo Guo, was evacuated from the earthquake-hit China Giant Panda Research Center's Hetaoping Base in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan. Before the earthquake, Hetaoping Base was home to 63 pandas. One was killed and another is still missing after the May 12 quake, the strongest and deadliest to hit China since 1976. The surviving pandas were moved to panda breeding bases in Fujian, Yunnan and Guangdong provinces.
Guo Guo, who is 12 years old, is pictured above carrying the older of her two cubs. It weighed 170 grams at birth.
Footnote: China has 239 giant pandas in captivity, and another 27 live outside the country. It is estimated that about 1,590 pandas are currently living in the wild, although a 2006 study using DNA analysis estimated 2,000 to 3,000 in the wild. Although there is evidence that the number of wild pandas is on the rise, conservationists say they can not yet be removed from the endangered animal list. (Source: Wikipedia)
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