Cuddly newcomers make their debut in Chengdu

Ten of the 11 giant pandas born this year make their public debut at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Friday, ahead of National Day on Sunday. The base, with 184 pandas, is the world’s biggest center for captive giant pandas.

Eleven panda cubs born this year met the public for the first time at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province on Friday.

“Visitors can see them being together in a nursery during the National Day holiday,” said base chief Zhang Zhihe.

The holiday, which falls on Oct 1, will last eight days this year. It is the tradition of the base to place all the newborn panda cubs of the year in a nursery during the holiday so that visitors can see them, he said.

Since April 24, the base has witnessed the birth of five male cubs and six female cubs.

On Friday, keepers held the 11 cubs to form the number 30, symbolizing the 30th anniversary of the base.

In 1987, the base was set up in Futou Hill in Chengdu with six sick and hungry pandas from the wild. Now the base is home to 184 pandas and has loaned pandas to 13 countries and regions in the world.

On Thursday, Xing Bao, a 4-year-old panda born in Zoo Madrid in Spain, returned to the base. Its parents from the base have been loaned to the zoo.