A giant panda in Austria surprised her zookeepers after they made a surprising discovery.
Zookeepers in Austria said that their female panda Yang Yang gave birth to a lone cub on Aug. 7. However, they noted that it sounded like two baby pandas were in the enclosure.
Five days later, they discovered that Yang Yang had delivered two cubs, according to a news release from the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna.
“It had sounded as if there were two young animals squeaking, but the photos only showed one,” Dagmar Schratter said in the release, according to a translation. Later, zookeepers “could see two babies on the screen for the first time,” she said.
The zoo confirmed that the cubs’ development over the first two days appears to be good, adding that the chances of survival for baby pandas in the first few days is only at around 50 percent.
“Both cubs have little fat bellies and mother panda Yang Yang is very relaxed,” zoologist Eveline Dungl sad in the release. “The little ones can be barely seen in the photos because Yang Yang warms them between her large paws most of the time,” Dungl added, according to a translation.
Yang Yang and her babies are being monitored via cameras in a private pen so as to not disturb them.
She has given birth to three other cubs, which are now in China, according to Reuters.
The zoo said that no other zoo in Europe has been able to breed giant pandas via natural methods.
