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Meet the world's first surviving panda triplets

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A Chinese zoo has unveiled newborn panda triplets billed as the world’s first known surviving trio, in what it hailed as a “miracle” given the animal’s famously low reproductive rate.

The mother panda, named Juxiao, meaning “chrysanthemum smile", delivered the triplets at Guangzhou’s Chimelong Safari Park in the early hours of July 29, but was too exhausted to take care of them afterwards.

A video from the zoo showed Juxiao (below) sitting in the corner of a room as she delivered her cubs for four gruelling hours and licking them after they were born.

By the time it came to the delivery of the third cub, she was lying on her side out of exhaustion.

Her cubs were initially put into incubators while Juxiao regained her strength but had now been brought back to their mother for nursing and were being attended to by a round-the-clock team of feeders, the zoo said Tuesday.

“It was a miracle for us and (the births) exceeded our expectations,” the safari park’s general manager Dong Guixin told AFP.

“It’s been 15 days. They have lived longer than any other triplets so far,” Dong said.

The cubs were naturally conceived when the 12-year-old Juxiao was paired with the 17-year-old father, Linlin, at the zoo, Dong said.

Source: AFP

Photos: AFP

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