Vienna zoo unveils names for panda cub twins
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E-mail CNTV, November 26, 2016
The Vienna Zoo has officially unveiled the names of twin baby pandas born there in August. And, the U.K. zoo is celebrating the birth of a rare pygmy hippo.
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| The Vienna Zoo has officially unveiled the names of twin baby pandas born there in August. |
The male is called Fu Ban, meaning Lucky Companion and the female was named Fu Feng, or Lucky Phoenix. The official name plates were unveiled by Austrian Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner and Chinese Ambassador to Austria Li Xiaosi.
The pandas were the fourth and fifth cubs born to mother Yang Yang, after Fu Long, Fu Hu and Fu Bao.
“We weighed both of them a couple of days ago. The male weighs 5.5 kilograms. She weighs 6 kilograms,” said Dagmar Schratter, Vienna Zoo Director.
“If we consider that on their birthday, on August 7, they only weighed 100 grams, naked and blind, then this is an enormous growth. Their eyes are open, they can crawl a bit, and they’re already playing with each other – so things are looking up.”
U.K. zoo celebrates birth of rare pygmy hippo
The U.K. public has been asked to decide on a name for a newborn male pygmy hippo at a zoo in Owslebury near Winchester.
The son of hippos Wendy and Oliver has not been given a name yet, but zoo keepers have narrowed it down to Derek, George, Walter, or Norbert, and the zoo has invited the public to settle the question by popular vote.
The calf is the first male pygmy hippo born at the zoo in 10 years.
In 2013, a female calf called Gloria was born at the zoo, but she has since been transferred to the Edinburgh Zoo, where she is starting a family of her own.
In the wild, the pygmy hippopotamus, native to West Africa, faces threats, as the swamps and forests that are its natural habitat are disappearing due to logging and deforestation.
