Rare red panda cubs born at two British zoos in 'massive success'

Four rare red panda cubs born at two British zoos are thriving, say zookeepers. In a huge success for the European Endangered Species Programme two pairs have been bred in recent months at Whipsnade Zoo and Longleat Safari Park.

A male and female cub, named Alex and Priya, were born at Bedfordshire's Whipsnade Zoo, run by the Zoological Society of London in June."It is quite rare to have red panda cubs both out in the wild and in captivity - certainly a zoo setting, it's a massive success for us," said Patrick Lally, the zookeeper at Whipsnade who has been caring for the cubs since birth. "You have to provide the right environment for them to feel comfortable to breed and then become successful. And then after that stage, to survive that rearing process."The adorable pair were born technically blind, with their eyes closed, as is usual for red pandas, but have since opened them and transformed into mini versions of their parents, with russet fur and long, bushy tails. These shy creatures take time to develop and are mostly safely tucked away in hiding."A day in the life for the cubs at the minute is that they will be snoozing a lot in the nest boxes," said Lally. "But they have become a lot more confident over the last few days. So they'll be exploring the island seeing what they can climb."The cubs were briefly hauled out of their sanctuary, protesting loudly, for specialist zoo vets to give them vital vaccinations and a health check, confirming both babies are thriving, weighing around 1.5kg each.