Saint-Aignan-Sur-Cher (France), Jan 13 (AFP) France'sfirst panda cub made its debut public appearance today, fivemonths after its birth, to rapturous crowds - some of whom hadtravelled hours to see the fluffy male.
Yuan Meng, which means "making a dream come true" inChinese, was introduced into his new enclosure in Beauval zooin central France along with his mother as adoring onlookersringed the site.
"We got up at 3:00 in the morning. My son absolutelywanted to see the cub," said Delphine who had travelled fromthe Paris region.
"We felt we took part in a historic moment. It was verymoving," she said.
Zoo veterinarian Baptiste Mulot said the cub had beenbrought to the enclosure over the past 10 days to familiarisehimself with the surroundings.
Panda reproduction, in captivity or in the wild, isnotoriously difficult because the female panda is only in heatonce a year for about 48 hours.
But the number of pandas worldwide has rebounded sincethe black-and-white bear was declared an endangered animal inthe 1980s, thanks to efforts to protect it and its habitat.
China has dispatched its national treasure to only abouta dozen countries, using the animal as a symbol of closerelations.
A female and male mate arrived in Beauval in 2012 afterhigh-level negotiations between Paris and Beijing, but YuanMeng was born through artificial insemination. (AFP)CPS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.