Baby panda born in Korea for the first time

A giant panda was born for the first time in Korea. Samsung C&T announced on Wednesday that Ai Bao (7 years, female) and Le Bao (9 years, male), the only Panda pair living in Korea had a female baby panda, born on 9:49 p.m. on Monday at Everland Zoo in Yongin. The baby was born after 90 minutes of labor, 16.5 centimeters long and weighed 197 grams.

The couple gave birth to the baby panda in 1,601 days since their arrival to Korea in March 2016. Back then they had been 3 and 4 years old, respectively, and matured into healthy adults weighting around 120 kilograms. Hopes were high for pregnancy and birth for a new baby panda.

The childbearing period for pandas is once a year, which lasts only one to three days in March and April. This limits breeding capabilities. “We changed their rooms on a regular basis to help them get used to their odor, ran medical checkups to analyze hormone changes to determine the optimal date for mating,” said zookeeper Kang Chul-won at Everland. “We finally succeeded in March.”

Though born in Korea, the baby panda belongs to China, inheriting their parents’ nationality, as its parents are on a loan from China. Korea will pay half a million dollar fund to China, raise the baby and have it returned to China in four to five years. The baby panda will be open to public after five or six months.


Tae-Ho Hwang taeho@donga.com