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Black and white and cute all over, that’s the world’s newest panda

Almost too cute for words, the as-yet-unnamed panda cub is shown to the world for the first time.

Almost too cute for words, the as-yet-unnamed panda cub is shown to the world for the first time. Photo: AP/Vincent Thian

A baby panda born in a Malaysian zoo five months ago has made her public debut.

The female cub, which has not yet been named, is the second offspring of giant pandas Liang Liang and Xing Xing, both of which are on a 10-year loan to Malaysia since 2014.

The first cub, a female called Nuan Nuan, was born in August, 2015, and sent back to China last November as part of a deal with Beijing to return cubs born in captivity at age 2.

Mum Liang Liang keeps a close eye on her little bundle of joy. Photo: AP/Vincent Thian

Members of the media watched and filmed the cub in an air-conditioned enclosure at the national zoo through a glass shield. Zoologists said the healthy cub weighs 9kg and will face the public later on Saturday.

Zoo officials have said the giant panda pair broke the world record for a second baby in four years via natural reproduction.

Malaysia’s national zoo has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars on a panda complex that includes bamboo trees to mimic their natural habitat, after China loaned the cub’s parents to mark 40 years of diplomatic relations with Malaysia.

According to WWF, there are 1,864 giant pandas in the wild, living mainly in bamboo forests high in the mountains of western China and subsisting almost entirely on bamboo.

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