Extremely rare panda triplets welcomed by China zoo

This morning, China announced the birth of extremely rare panda triplets.

The still-unnamed cubs were born on July 29, but breeders postponed announcing the birth until they were certain that all three siblings would survive.

Mother Ju Xiao, or "chrysanthemum smile," was impregnated in March with sperm from another panda living at the Guangzhou zoo, and received 24-hour care in the final weeks of her pregnancy.

On July 29, the triplets were born at Guangzhou's Chimelong Safari Park within four hours of each other. After the birth, Ju Xiao was too exhausted to care for her young ones, so the triplets were moved to incubators while the mother rested.

The cubs, whose genders have not yet been shared with the public, have since been reunited with their mother for nursing.

They currently weigh between 230 and 333 grams.

"The mother and babies were in good condition, but the adorable newborns were particularly inspiring," the zoo said.

The triplets, considered a huge success for China's breeding program, are only the fourth set of triplets known to be born in the world through an artificial breeding program. It isn't clear how many of those triplets survived, although some media outlets are calling them "the world's first known surviving trio," and they are the only known triplets currently alive.

"It was a miracle for us and [the births] exceeded our expectations," the safari park's general manager Dong Guixin said. "It's been 15 days. They have lived longer than any other triplets so far."

An official from Sichuan Wolong National Natural Reserve said that they're still too young to be officially recognized as "surviving."

"We can only say they are surviving once they reach six months. For now they are indeed the only surviving triplets," said an official from the centre.

According to the San Diego Zoo, the cubs should open their eyes at around 50 or 60 days old, and start crawling at the 10-week mark. They will continue to nurse for 18 months.

Over in Scotland, giant panda Tian Tian has conceived at the Edinburgh Zoo following artificial insemination. Experts are monitoring her daily, expecting her to give birth at the end of the month.

According to the Associated Press:

"Giant pandas have difficulty breeding and their pregnancies are notoriously difficult to follow because the animals experience 'pseudo-pregnancies' – their behaviour and hormonal changes do not indicate for certain whether they are pregnant or not. The mammals’ fetuses do not start to develop until the final weeks of gestation."

Not only are pandas notoriously difficult to breed — choosy about mates and uninterested in sex — survival rates among the young are low. About 26 per cent of male panda cubs and 20 per cent of female panda cubs die in their first year.

There are only around 1,600 pandas left in the wild in China.