China delivers triple treat?

A Chinese zoo has announced the birth of newborn panda triplets billed as the world’s first known surviving trio, in what it hailed as a miracle given the mammal’s notoriously low reproductive rate.

Pregnancy rates by natural and artificial means can scarcely sustain the panda population, estimated at 1,600 living in the wild. Meanwhile, China’s expansionist policies and go-go economy are increasingly placing the panda’s habitat in peril. So let’s take a moment to admire the rare panda pups.  —Diane Richard, writer, August 13

Image: China Daily/Reuters

Source: Agence France-Presse in Hong Kong, “World’s first surviving panda triplets born in Chinese zoo,” The Guardian,August 12