Liang Liang has given birth, tweets 'happy' PM
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today announced the birth of a baby Panda in Zoo Negara.
In a tweet, Najib said he was glad that Liang Liang delivered a cub at 1.45pm.
The pair of pandas, Xing Xing and Liang Liang, in Zoo Negara, are on loan from China to mark the 40th anniversary of Malaysia and China's diplomatic ties.
This is a highly significant moment as pandas are rarely born in captivity outside of China.
Malaysia is among just 14 countries which has forged "panda diplomacy" with China.
Gembira mendapat berita bahawa Liang Liang, panda di Zoo Negara, telah selamat melahirkan seekor anak pada 1.45 tengah hari tadi.
Posted by Najib Razak on Tuesday, 18 August 2015
After the news broke, a large number of Twitter users started to congratulate Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang over the birth.
Tan took it in good faith and played along.
Still a mystery why people are congratulating me non-stop today ....just play along la! đ
— Tan Keng Liang (@tankengliang) August 18, 2015
Zoo Negara deputy president [email protected] Ahmat Lana said the veterinary experts and staff at the giant panda conservation centre (GPCC) had been able to detect extraordinary behaviour of Liang Liang over the past two weeks, reports Bernama .
"Liang Liang began to show extraordinary behaviour, such as losing appetite, being less active and making peculiar sounds, two weeks ago.
"Since then, our veterinary experts had begun carrying out blood test and measuring its weight, before they finally decided that there was an 80 percent probability that Liang Liang was pregnant," he told Bernama today.
Panda cub belongs to China
Rosly said it was the staff at the GPCC who saw that Liang Liang was showing labour symptoms when they took it out to the exhibition area at 10am.
"Based on the experts' observations at the exhibition area, Liang Liang appeared to have uncontrolled anxiety until about 1pm when it started to go inside a hidden corner and gave birth to a cub.
"They (the experts) knew that a baby panda was born as they could see a small leg," said Rosly.
He also said that Liang Liang would be quarantined temporarily to undergo the confinement period while nursing the baby until the experts confirmed that it was ready to receive visitors.
As such, he said visitors would only be able to see the male giant panda, Xing Xing, when visiting the GPCC for the time being.
Based on the Malaysia-China giant panda international conservation agreement, Rosly said the panda cub could only stay in Malaysia for two years and must be sent back to Chengdu, China, the hometown of Xing Xing and Liang Liang.
"It will belong to China after that," he said.
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