A five-year-old female giant panda gave birth to twin babies early Saturday morning in the Giant Panda Nature Reserve at Wolong in southwest China's Sichuan Province.  

It is the fourth twin pair born in the Wolong-based China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center (CGPPRC) since August.

The panda cubs were born at 2:35 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., weighing 150 grams and 168 grams respectively. The mother and her babies are in good condition.

It is the first time for the just sexually mature panda to give birth. She seems to be not accustomed to her new maternal role and left the cubs unattended after giving birth, according to CGPPRC's vice-director Zhang Guiquan.

At present, CGPPRC experts are taking care of the newly born cubs.

The Wolong nature reserve, jointly launched by the Chinese government and the World Wide Fund for Nature in 1980, is home to 67 giant pandas older than six months. Fifty-five giant pandas were born there since 1991 with 43 surviving.

The cute and graceful animal is one of the world's most endangered species. Currently, there are only 1,000 giant pandas living in the wild worldwide. The number of pandas in captivity totals 140.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2003)