Rare giant panda cub born at Vienna zoo (Photo)

Vienna Zoo is celebrating the birth of a rare giant panda, The baby bear was born Sunday to mother Yang Yang and father Long Hui. It’s their fourth cub, after Fu Long, Fu Hu and Fu Bao.

The ten-centimetre-long baby panda was born around 5am on Sunday morning and was captured on camera being licked clean and cradled by the mother.

Weighing just 100 grams, the newborn has not yet developed the distinctive black and white fur and is pink in colour. It is the fourth panda to be born at the Tiergarten Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn Zoo), following Fu Long in 2007, Fu Hu in 2010 and Fu Bao in 2013.

Keepers say the latest addition to the family was probably conceived in March, when the mother Yang Yang and father Long Hui were spotted mating enthusiastically on several occasions.

Pandas mating in captivity is an extremely rare event and at the time the zoo described the moment between Yang Yang and Long Hui as “sensational”.

Often pandas can only be bred by zoos using artificial insemination, which makes this latest newborn – conceived naturally – a special and rare case.

The zoo says they are constantly monitoring the mother and baby but have so far been unable to identify the sex of the newborn.

“Because the newborn is tiny and the mother is intensively warming it, it can rarely be seen on camera and we cannot yet identify the sex,” said zoo director Dagmar Schratter.

The panda enclosure will remain closed for the time being to allow Yang Yang to care and bond with her baby in peace.

Agencies/Canadajournal