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NEWS IN PICTURES

Giant joy

, August 23, 2015

Giant panda Mei Xiang, a star tourist draw in the US capital, gave birth to a pair of cubs hours apart on Saturday, the National Zoo said.

Mei Xiang gave birth to her first cub at 5:34 pm (2134 GMT) after her water broke about an hour beforehand, zoo officials said. About four and one-half hours later, at 10:07 pm, a second cub arrived and appeared healthy, the National Zoo in Washington, said.

The gender of the cubs has not yet been determined. Mei Xiang, 17, was artificially inseminated with sperm from two male pandas, one living in China and one from the National Zoo. The father of the newborns is not yet known. It will likely be four months before the cubs will venture from the den and visitors can catch a glimpse of the zoo's newest pandas.




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