The world's first set of captive-bred panda twins this year have been born. The two female cubs were born last Wednesday to third-time mother Meng Meng at a breeding center in China's Sichuan Province. Footage released by the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding shows 11-year-old Meng Meng delivering her two daughters in an enclosure. After the cubs were born, the panda mother picked them up with her mouth and licked them to care for them. Keepers at the breeding center then transferred the tiny pink cubs to an incubator to be looked after. They also bottle-fed them milk. The two cubs were born at 5:20pm and 5:52pm on May 23. At birth, the elder sister, named Mei Meng, weighed 149.9 grams (5.3 ounces); while the younger sister, named Lan Meng, weighed 110.7 grams (3.9 ounces). The breeding center said Meng Meng was a 'very experienced mother' and her labor lasted around one hour. Panda's mother Meng Meng has five cubs, including the two newborns. She gave birth to a set of male twins, Meng Da and Meng Er, in 2013 and one male cub, Meng Lan, in 2015. Meng Meng and both cubs are in good health, said the breeding center. Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base is the world's largest artificial breeding population of captive pandas. The state-run base started in the 1980s with six ill pandas, according to its website. As of 2015, it had bred a total of 214 cubs, many of them sent to zoos around the world. According to the latest statistics, the base looks after 152 pandas.
