A giant panda gave birth to twins Thursday evening in the Wolong Giant Panda Protection Research Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.  

Zhang Guiquan, vice director of the research center, said the first cub was born at around 7 p.m. and another at 7:15 p.m. The mother and babies were all in good condition.

One of the twins, weighing 168 grams, was taken away from his mother, who is over ten years old, to be bottle-fed by staff because giant pandas typically can only nurse one offspring.

The panda mother gave birth to her first cub in 2000 at a relatively late age, as female giant pandas usually reach fertile age at four. She also bore twins in August 2001.

The research center in Wolong is home to 67 giant pandas, and since 1991, 51 giant pandas have been born there, with 39 surviving.

The global population of giant pandas stands at about 1,000 and most of these endangered animals live in the mountains of Sichuan Province.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2003)