Fluffy red panda triplets born in Sydney
Two of three rare panda cubs born at Sydney's Taronga Zoo on December 7. Photo: Taronga Zoo Sydney/AAP
The first set of red panda triplets born at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo have begun emerging from their nest box.
Zoo staff unveiled the fluffy trio on Sunday after keeping the December 7 birth secret and monitoring the cubs’ progress via CCTV.
Carnivore keeper Ben Haynes said the endangered, forest-dwelling red pandas typically develop over a slow period, spending the first 13 weeks in the nest box.
“Only in the last week or so, the cubs have started to emerge mostly at night to explore their surroundings,” he said on Sunday.
“But over the coming weeks they’ll start to be more explorative and start to get out and about during the day.”
Baby Red Pandas meet with keepers for the first time at Sydney's @TarongaZoo. #7News pic.twitter.com/dIf3hKdUa3
— 7NEWS Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) March 10, 2019
Keepers only recently confirmed the sexes of the cubs, giving the cubs Hindi or Nepalese names to reflect their natural habitat.
The two males have been named Rohan and Ishwar, while the female cub was called Mishry.
The trio will serve as an insurance population to those in the wild in the eastern Himalayas and south-western China.
Taronga Zoo says fewer than 10,000 wild red panda remain due to poaching and habitat destruction.
-AAP
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