Red panda twins born! Chester Zoo reveals rare cubs during first health check

Twin red panda cubs - born to mum Nima and dad Koda - are the newest additions at Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo’s newest arrivals - two adorable red panda cubs - have been revealed as a boy and a girl during their first ever health check-up.

The precious nine-week-old twins, classed by conservationists as endangered in the wild, were born on 22 June to mum Nima and dad Koda who have kept them tucked up in their nest boxes since birth.

Now, specialist vets and keepers have had their very first look at the delightful duo, examining the pair during the health check, where they were weighed, sexed and vaccinated.

Each of the fluffy youngsters was given a full, clean bill of health. James Andrewes, Assistant Team Manager at the zoo, said:

“These red panda twins are wonderful, important new additions to the carefully managed breeding programme for the species, which is working to increase the safety-net population in Europe as numbers in the wild continue to decline.

“Happily, both cubs are developing very well indeed and the health MOTs we’ve been able to perform confirmed that mum Nima is clearly doing a great job of caring for them.

“We also discovered the genders of each of the cubs - one male and one female - and returned them to their mum as soon as we’d finished giving them a quick once over. Nima took them straight back to her nest and it’ll be a few weeks now until the cubs start to develop the confidence to come out and explore by themselves. Before they’re able to stand on their own feet, it is though possible that some lucky people will have the occasional glimpse of Nima carrying them from nest to nest by the scruffs of their necks.”