Panda cubs have new adopted mother - a dog

Published on Thursday 16 July 2009 10:22

Two red panda cubs abandoned by their mother at birth are thriving at a northern China zoo thanks to milk and loving care from an unlikely surrogate mother – a dog.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported that the cubs, born three weeks ago, were abandoned immediately by their mother at the Taiyuan Zoo in northern China's Shanxi province.

Xinhua said the dog wet nurse, belonging to a farmer from a nearby suburb, was selected from two other candidates that had recently given birth, and is now raising the two cubs like her own pups.

Unlike the more well known, bear-like giant pandas, red pandas resemble racoons with long bushy tails. There are believed to be fewer than 2,500 adult red pandas in the world.