A Japanese zoo had some extra Christmas cheer as it celebrated the winter birth of twin giant panda cubs, a rarity for the famously infertile animals.
The Adventure World zoo in the western Wakayama region said it was only the second known time that a giant panda in captivity had given birth in the winter.
The world's first winter-born panda cub outside of the wild was delivered at the same zoo in 2001.
The newborn babies, the seventh and eighth giant pandas born in the zoo, and mother Meimei are in good condition after Saturday's delivery, said zookeeper Tadashi Ishikawa.
"Meimei is such a good mother, taking good care of both of the cubs," Ishikawa said. "Often, especially in the wild, the mother panda focuses on caring for a healther one and leaves the other one to die."
It was the fifth delivery for the veteran mother, who also gave birth to twin cubs in August 2005 and September 2003. She and her partner Eimei are the biggest panda family outside of China, Ishikawa said.
Giant pandas are notorious for their low sex drive, which is pushing them to the brink of extinction. Mothers also prefer to give birth in the warmer months when it is easier to care for the cubs.
Fewer than 1,600 giant pandas are believed to be left in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan province in China's southwest, as their natural habitats have been destroyed by humans.
China has employed the animals as a diplomatic tool and owns all the giant pandas resident in Japan except Ling Ling, the sole panda at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, who was allowed to take Japanese "citizenship".
Ling Ling frustrated zookeepers when he failed to impregnate Shuan Shuan, a female panda on loan from Mexico City. After nearly two years in Tokyo, Shuan Shuan was sent back to Mexico in September 2005 in a cage that read "Adios."
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Japanese zoo celebrates Christmas with baby pandas 
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