Two baby pandas were born at Beauval Zoo on Sunday night.
The birth of twin pandas being exceptional and particularly rare in the natural environment, they are the subject of special attention by the caretakers.
It will be necessary to be patient to know the names of the babies which will be chosen only in 100 days.
"20 Minutes" takes stock of what awaits these two baby pandas in the coming weeks.
Their birth was almost (at least?) As expected as that of Prince George in the United Kingdom in 2013. The attention of thousands of French people is riveted this Monday morning on the two baby pandas born at Beauval Zoo on Sunday night .
They thus come to enlarge the panda family which includes their mother Huan Huan, their father Yuan Zi and their big brother Yuan Meng, born August 4, 2017. But what will happen now for the two little ones, new stars of the place ?
How are the babies?
“They are doing very well, they are in perfect health!
ensures, very enthusiastic, Rodolphe Delord, director of ZooParc de Beauval.
It is exceptional that twins survive.
"In 2017, the mother Huan Huan also gave birth to twins, but one of them, very weak, had died a few minutes after the birth, which happens" frequently ", according to the director.
"One weighs 149 grams and the other 128 grams, for a mother who weighs 100 kg," adds the director, however, specifying that childbirth remains a complicated and painful moment for females.
Huan Huan's lasted no less than seven hours.
Who manages ?
Usually in a natural state, when a mom panda gives birth to twins, she chooses the stronger and lets the weaker die.
"She has trouble raising and suckling both, because it requires a lot of work," says Rodolphe Delord.
But no way that happens at the zoo where the babies "go alternately to the incubator and with the mother".
To ensure this logistics and help the mother, about twenty people are mobilized around the pandas.
Zoo keepers and veterinarians ensure the rotations and to this team are added two Chinese keepers who arrived a week ago.
"Babies are monitored 24 hours a day and are not left alone for a minute because they are extremely fragile animals", specifies the director of the Beauval zoo.
What will the babies be called?
For the moment babies do not have a first name, moreover the caregivers are not even sure of their gender yet.
"We think that they are two females, but as they are small embryos, it is difficult to know", indicates the director of the zoo who assures that within "three to four days, the sex will already be better formed and it will be easier to see ”.
For now, the teams have nicknamed the babies “Fleur de Coton” and “Petite Neige”.
The #panda twins have been nicknamed “Fleur de Coton” and “Petite Neige” by our teams!
🥰 As is the Chinese tradition, the little ones will receive their official name after the delicate period of the first 100 days.
🐼📷 © Eric Baccega # BébéPandaBeauval pic.twitter.com/32P5fBmkEV
- ZooParc de Beauval (@zoobeauval) August 2, 2021
The zoo specifies that "as is the Chinese tradition", the babies "will receive their official name, after the delicate period of the first 100 days".
In 2017, for the first baby of Huan Huan born at the Beauval zoo, the Chinese first lady had proposed several first names and it was Brigitte Macron, designated as godmother of the plantigrade, who had chosen the final first name: "Yuan Meng", who means "the fulfillment of a dream".
"I think that it will still be the first Chinese lady who will select or make proposals for first names for these babies," suggests Rodolphe Delord, who specifies that the godfather or godmother of the latter still remains to be designated.
When can we see them for real?
For now, the mother must be alone in peace with her babies. Visitors can still see them on the big screen where the images are continuously broadcast. "They will be able to see them in real life in a few weeks when the veterinarians and our trainers judge that it is possible", specifies Rodolphe Delord. That's pretty good because for now, it's hard to see in these mini pink babies, hairless, looking more like fetuses, the future little balls of hair that they will become.
"You have to wait a fortnight for them to look like mini pandas", assures the director of the zoo.
The two babies will then remain “permanently both with their mother in the enclosure until they are three years old.
They will be able to play together ”, enthuses Rodolphe Delord already.
The director specifies that they will not however be with their big brother, the pandas remaining solitary animals.
How long will they stay at Beauval Zoo?
These babies, like their mother Huan Huan, belong to China which lends them to France.
Therefore, "they will return to China when they are adults at the age of four at the Chengdu Breeding and Research Center to breed with other pandas with whom they have no genetic link."
On the other hand, the zoo hopes to extend the partnership with China to keep the parents, who have been installed at the Beauval zoo for ten years already.
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Beauval Zoo: Huan Huan, the female panda, gave birth to twins last night
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