Lying in the keeper’s arms with a dreamy expression, Pit takes the bottle in his furry paws. Within minutes, he has emptied the entire contents. Once a day, Zoo Berlin’s panda twins are bottle fed to supplement the milk they receive from mum Meng Meng.
Although half of all giant panda births are twins, the mothers usually raise only one cub. In order to give both of these threatened bears the chance to grow big and strong, the animal keepers have been giving Meng Meng a helping hand to raise her twins in the first few months by allowing them alternating shifts in the incubator. The now approximately 11 kilo panda cubs are growing, hungry boys, so they are currently given an extra 130 ml of formula milk. The calmer of the two pandas, firstborn Pit, has revealed himself to be quite the guzzler: he takes the bottle in his own paws and drinks the entire contents in no time. Afterwards, keeper Anja Seiferth helps the boys to get rid of excess air in their tummies by giving them a light massage.
Despite the wet winter weather, some 35,000 panda fans have visited the twins at Zoo Berlin since last Thursday. On Sunday alone, over 9,000 visitors paid a visit to the panda family. “We are delighted about the great interest in Pit and Paule,” says Zoo and Tierpark Director Dr Andreas Knieriem. “We would like to use the attention they’re attracting to get as many people as possible interested in animals and nature.” Zoo Berlin is one of the German capital’s most popular attractions, drawing in more than 3.5 million visitors from all over the world every year.
Background:
Zoo Berlin has been home to Germany’s only giant pandas since summer 2017. On 31 August 2019, female panda Meng Meng (6) gave birth to two cubs weighing 186 and 136 grams. Father Jiao Qing (9) is not involved in the rearing of the cubs – as is normal for giant pandas. Most recent estimates suggest that there are only 1,864 adult giant pandas living in their natural habitat worldwide. Giant pandas are therefore classified as “Vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Zoo Berlin pays an annual loan fee to be able to keep the pandas, and 100 percent of that sum is channelled into conservation work, such as the breeding, protection and reintroduction into the wild of the beloved bamboo-eating bears. Panda pair Meng Meng and Jiao Qing are sponsored by cooperative banking association Berliner Volksbank.
The panda family is expected to be on view to visitors during regular Zoo opening hours. The twins will only occasionally be out of sight when being fed, weighed or measured. There’s still plenty of time for panda fans to pay a visit, as the cubs won’t leave Zoo Berlin until they are two to four years old – the age when pandas in the wild also strike out alone.
