A set of panda triplets, known as the world's only surviving trio,
have opened their eyes for the first time more than a month after their
birth in a Chinese zoo.
The trio's births at the end of July were hailed as a "miracle" given the animal's famously low reproductive rate.
A
video from the zoo showed the three cubs now covered with white and
black fur squealing and moving about with their eyes open.
"The
panda triplets have all opened their eyes and are in good, healthy
condition," Guangzhou's Chimelong Safari Park said in a statement
Thursday.
The second panda to be born was the first to open their eyes, followed by the lastborn and then the firstborn. The cubs, the size of a small dog, weighed from 2,678 to 2,886 grams (5.9 to 6.3 pounds), the statement said.
"Each
one is starting to show its own individuality. For example, the third
one is the most lively," it said, adding that the cubs are now living in
wooden boxes.
The cubs' next stage in development will be to start walking, the statement continued.
The zoo also has said that a naming competition is already underway and will end in mid-October.
The gender of the cubs cannot be determined until they grow older. The
mother panda, named Juxiao, meaning "chrysanthemum smile", delivered
the triplets at Guangzhou's Chimelong Safari Park in the early hours of
July 29.
A video showed Juxiao sitting in the corner of a
room as she delivered her cubs for four gruelling hours and licking them
after they were born. By the time it came to the delivery of the third
cub, she was lying on her side in exhaustion.
The first known case
of triplets from a giant panda was recorded in 1999, when a 15-year-old
mother gave birth following artificial insemination in the southwestern
Chinese city of Chengdu.
However the youngest of the trio died after living for just three days because of a bladder disorder.
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