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It's a Boy! Zoo Vienna Welcomes a Healthy Panda Cub

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Zoo Vienna's newest Panda cub, the third Panda ever to be born at the zoo, is now two months old. The little animal is at an exciting phase of development: his eyes have opened.

"Panda babies are born blind. Between 30 and 45 days after birth their eyes slowly begin to open. One to two weeks later they have opened completely although perception is still restricted to light-dark contrasts," the zoo’s director Dagmar Schratter explains.

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Photo credits: Daniel Zupanc / Zoo Vienna

See an early video of Yang Yang with her newborn:

 

Meanwhile, mother Yang Yang is now comfortable leaving the breeding box to eat and drink about seven times a day. All in all, she now leaves the young animal, which already weighs around 6.5 pounds (3 kg), alone for up to six hours. Still, the black and white fur-ball’s admirers will have to be patient another few months until he will be able to climb out of the breeding box on his own. 

Schratter says, "The baby panda cannot crawl yet. He manages to push himself away from the floor only to fall over immediately and to tumble back into the soft bamboo nest."

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