Panda triplets born in southern China zoo

BEIJING – Among panda-lovers, it doesn’t take much to set off pandemonium. Tuesday was a banner day for admirers of the rare black-and-white mammals as a zoo in southern China announced that one of its charges had given birth to a set of triplets – which the facility billed as the only surviving trio of pandas in the world.

The cubs were born to mother Juxiao in the early morning hours of July 29 at the Chimelong wildlife park in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, China’s state-run media said.

Infant pandas have a notoriously high mortality rate, and while Chimelong called the triplets a “miracle,” experts said it was too soon for the cubs to be declared out of the woods.

Pandas are notoriously poor breeders. As few as 1,600 giant pandas remain in central China’s mountain forests. About 375 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world.