Beijing - Four cubs have been born in only 14 hours to giant pandas in China to give a rare boost to the population of the endangered species, state media said on Sunday.

Nine-year-old Qiyuan gave birth to a pair of twin female cubs late on Saturday at the Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Centre in southwest Sichuan province, the Xinhua news agency said.

Little more than an hour later, eight-year-old Chenggong, whose name means "success", gave birth to another cub. Zhuzhu, also eight years of age, also gave birth on Sunday.

Chinese experts say there are nearly 1,600 pandas living in the wild in China, mostly in Sichuan and neighboring Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, Xinhua said.
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