A giant panda gives birth to twins at record 23 years old

Zookeepers never expected the 23- year-old giant panda to give birth again when she was moved to a nature reserve in southwest China to live out the rest of her days.

But Haizi started showing interest in courtship this spring, resulting in a blind date with a male panda suitor and - four months later - twin cubs that have made her the world's oldest panda mom, China's Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center announced today.

A 23-year-old giant panda is equivalent in age to an 80- year-old human.

According to the center, Haizi gave birth to a 175-gram (6 ounces) female and a 123.1-gram male on July 30 at southwest Sichuan province's Wolong National Nature Reserve, where 21 panda cubs have been born this year.
 

Haizi last delivered a pair of panda twins when she was 19 years old.

In Chinese culture, a set of boy-girl twins are called "dragon-phoenix babies."

"Generally, the maximum breeding age for giant pandas is 20 years old, and pandas older than that are not encouraged to participate in breeding," Li Desheng, a giant panda expert at the breeding center, said in a statement.

"But Haizi's success demonstrates the advanced degree of care offered at our center - it is a breakthrough in panda breeding.