A month ahead of the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, the city has another reason to celebrate - giant panda Shin Shin has given birth to twin cubs at Ueno Zoo, the first panda birth there in four years and the first twin panda birth they've ever had.
The Tokyo zoo's website listed the two newborn pandas as being born an hour and a half apart at 1:03 a.m. (1403 GMT) and 2:32 a.m. (1502 gmt) on Wednesday (June 23). Their gender has not been determined, and they have not yet been named. One of the cubs weighs 124 grams (4.37 ounces), and the other's weight is unknown.
The zoo's spokesman said that the twins will have to live separately, with one of them to remain in an incubator, while the other stays with Shin shin, since "in most cases, when twins (of giant pandas) are born, only one will grow up". Zoo staff must ensure over the next few months that the twins will nurse from Shin Shin at separate intervals.
Pandas are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, as the females go into heat only once a year and can be picky about partners.
It is not immediately known when the newborn cubs are expected to go on display at the zoo. Shin Shin had been removed from public view since the zoo reopened from its pandemic closure on June 4, when she was showing signs of possibly being pregnant.
Shin Shin was born on July 3, 2005, at the Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong, China, and arrived at Ueno Zoo a decade ago, along with her male partner Ri Ri. The pair are also parents to a female panda named Xiang Xiang, born in June 2017.