The panda twins are thriving after a little over two weeks: With their fluffy black ears, typical eye patches, and well-filled bellies, they are beginning to resemble real Giant Pandas. While one of the cubs lifts its head with a soft squeak to search for its mother's teat, its sister sleeps in the incubator, possibly dreaming of the next milk feeding with mom Meng Meng (11). In addition to the black ears and eye patches, a dark stripe is now visible on the shoulders of the once pink baby pandas. "We are extremely pleased with the development of the two little pandas. Their growing black-and-white coloring clearly shows that they are visually following in their mother's footsteps," said Dr. Andreas Knieriem, CEO and director of Zoo and Tierpark Berlin.
The weight gain of the two is particularly gratifying. They have more than doubled their birth weight and currently weigh 510 g and 450 g. In addition to monitoring their weight, the panda team also keeps an eye on the cubs' body temperature and assists their digestion with gentle massages. The two drink so eagerly from their mother Meng Meng that an additional bottle is currently not needed. The entire panda team is on duty around the clock to support the rearing and ensure that the cubs continue to thrive.
The young panda family will now spend the "getting-to-know" period in the back area of the panda enclosure and will not be visible to zoo visitors for the time being. Male pandas, even in the wild, are not involved in raising the young, so panda father Jiao Qing (14) can still be seen relaxing and eating bamboo in the Panda Garden.
Background on the Giant Panda
Without protective measures, the Giant Panda would likely already be extinct. The Giant Panda is a unique specialist with specific needs. Thanks to intensive anti-poaching efforts and the promotion of protected areas and connecting corridors, their population has somewhat recovered, but the Giant Panda is still listed as "vulnerable" on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), with just under 2,000 individuals in the wild. Habitat fragmentation caused by roads, railways, and agricultural land is a major problem for this solitary animal.
Since the summer of 2017, Zoo Berlin has been home to Germany's only Giant Pandas. On August 31, 2019, panda female Meng Meng gave birth to two baby pandas. They were the first panda offspring ever born in Germany. Pit and Paule left Zoo Berlin in December 2023 and have since lived at the Chengdu Panda Base in China. In March of this year, after intensive observation and careful preparation by an international team of experts, artificial insemination was carried out on Meng Meng. Female Giant Pandas are only fertile for about 72 hours a year, and the fragmentation of their natural habitat makes it difficult for them to find mates during the breeding season.
