Rare panda twins born at Belgian zoo

Brussels: A Belgian zoo announced on Friday the "extremely rare" birth of twin baby giant pandas, three years after the arrival of a young male. The Pairi Daiza zoo said the safe delivery of the twins, one male and one female represented a "new hope" for the charismatic black and white bear, of which fewer than 2,000 now live in the wild."

On a 15-year loan from China, Hao Hao and her mate Xig Hui quickly became one of the main attraction. Their first baby was born in June 2016 and names Tiao Bao, or "treasure of heaven".

Giant pandas are notoriously tricky reproducers and the zoo is funding a Belgian researcher as she seeks to develop a test that would allow scientists to tell the difference between the "false" pregnancies pandas sometimes exhibit and real ones.

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