Giant panda Ying Ying gave birth to twins at the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan Province. The twins are the first pair to be born in China this year, the State Forestry Administration (SFA) announced on Tuesday.

Although Sunday's delivery took 13 hours, mother and cubs are doing well, Cao Qingyao, an SFA spokesman, said.

"This marks the beginning of the year's breeding season for China's captive giant pandas," he added.

One of the cubs was taken away from its mother because pandas usually only nurse one cub at a time. Experts will hand rear the cub before returning it to Ying Ying's care, Cao said.

In captivity, pandas usually have a difficult time conceiving, carrying their pregnancies to full term and looking after their newly born cubs. However, Cao said the center has effectively solved these three problems thanks to 12 years of careful study of their breeding patterns.

A total of 74 cubs were born at the center between 1991 and 2005, of which 61 have survived. There are currently 82 pandas at the center.

Last month, the center presented two of its pandas to Taiwan as a gift.

At the end of last year, there were 163 giant pandas being kept in captivity throughout China, 70 percent of which were raised by humans and more than half of which live at the Wolong center.

The giant panda is one of the most endangered species in the world. China has 1,590 pandas in the wild, living in habitats covering more than 23,000 square kilometers across the western provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, according to the latest SFA inventory.

By the end of 2004, 65 nature reserves had been set up for giant pandas to bring 50 percent of their habitat under effective protection.

(China Daily, China.org.cn July 6, 2005)