A nine-year-old panda named Yuan Yuan gave birth to a healthy female baby cub Saturday night at the Taipei zoo in Taiwan.
The baby cub weighs 6.4 ounces and is 6.1 inches in length. Although healthy, zoo officials will be sure to keep a close eye on the cub.
“Our next challenge is even tougher. We will make sure the panda baby is under intensive care, especially after the first week after birth we will be on duty 24 hours a day," a zoo official told NY Daily News.
Since natural panda pregnancies are very rare, zoo officials have been using artificial insemination in an attempt to get Yuan Yuan pregnant. Their seventh attempt was given in March, and this time it finally worked.
This birth is important because there are only about 300 breeding panda pairs left in the entire world and they are considered an endangered species.
According to Voice of America, Yuan Yuan and her mate Tuan Tuan were given to Taiwan from China four years ago as a sign of good relations. For this reason, the Taipei zoo gets to keep the cub.
A name for the newborn female has not been decided yet.