BEIJING - Four giant panda cubs have been born within 14 hours at a breeding centre in southwest China, a mini baby boom for the rare animals.
A state news agency says the births began Saturday at the Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Center when nine-year-old Qiyuan, or Magic Luck, gave birth to female twins.
Eight-year-old Chenggong, or Success, gave birth to a cub a couple hours later, followed by eight-year-old Zhuzhu, or Pearl, who gave birth Sunday morning.
The centre currently has 71 pandas in captivity.
The giant panda is revered as an unofficial national symbol of China.
Only about 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in southwestern Sichuan province, which was hit by an earthquake in May that killed nearly 70,000 people.
China's most famous panda preserve, the Wolong Nature Reserve, was seriously damaged in the quake and forced to relocate most of its pandas. The preserve is at the heart of China's gargantuan effort to use captive breeding and artificial insemination to save the giant panda.
