Taiwan-born panda makes debut

Yuan Zai, the first Taiwan-born baby panda, climbs a wood log inside an enclosure as visitors take pictures at the Taipei City Zoo in Taipei. The cub, which was born in July last year, made its public debut on Monday. REUTERS/Patrick Lin

Yuan Zai, the first Taiwan-born baby panda, climbs a wood log inside an enclosure as visitors take pictures at the Taipei City Zoo in Taipei. The cub, which was born in July last year, made its public debut on Monday. REUTERS/Patrick Lin

Published Jan 7, 2014

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Taipei - The first giant panda to be born in Taiwan made her public debut Monday in front of thousands of fans at the Taipei Zoo, the Central News Agency reported. Yuan Zai, who weighed 183 grams at birth on July 6, now weighs about 14 kilograms and is very healthy, the zoo said. She was nursed by her mother Yuan Yuan and fell asleep soon afterwards. She woke around one hour later to great excitement among the visitors. She and her parents, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, are now on display in the zoo's Panda House. Yuan Zai was separated from her mother at birth and raised in an incubator because her leg was slightly injured. A film segment posted online showing her reunited with her mother received more than 2.46 million clicks. Zoo officials said Yuan Zai sleeps about 20 hours a day. Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, whose names combine to mean “reunion” in Chinese, were given to Taiwan by China in December 2008.

Sapa-dpa

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